Songbird
by Scarletborn
Summary: She asked for his protection. He gave it to her. But with Klaus Mikaelson everything came with a price and into his web Caroline Forbes went. However that was only the beginning. Mafia!Klaroline. AU/AH.
1. Loup Noir

**Songbird**

* * *

_**Summary:**_ She asked for his protection. He gave it to her. But with Klaus Mikaelson everything came with a price and into his web Caroline Forbes went. However that was only the beginning. Mafia!Klaroline AU/AH. (Short Story)

**Warnings:** Crime, violence, abuse, mentions of domestic abuse. Mature themes.

**Added Information:** In this story Caroline is 24 years old and Klaus is around 32.

* * *

_**~Prologue~**_

_..._

"_That's where you are wrong sweetheart. You have more than nothing. You have everything."_

"_You have yourself."_

_..._

_**Mystic Falls**_

_**March 2010**_

_The hard leather edge of his boot was connecting repeatedly with the soft skin of her stomach. With force. _

_He kept kicking her and all she could do was crawl to the floor. She didn't have any more strength, she could not fight back any longer. Her screams had ebbed away. She didn't believe anyone could have screamed as loud as she had. But this time she didn't stood there taking the punches without fighting back. _

_This time her voice had risen. The fearful whispers broke into a cry and she screamed and yelled and she wouldn't stop until her throat closed. Until no voice would come out. Until his hand wrapped around her neck and suffocated the life out of her before he threw her on the floor and started kicking her without mercy. _

_She was chocking on her own blood, her vision blurry as her eyes were swollen shut, all bruised blue and red._

_The world was fading away. She didn't know if this would be the end. She realized at that moment that she wanted to live. She didn't want to die._

_It was just moments before she passed away from the pain and the blood loss that she heard the sound that brought her hope._

_Someone was banging on the door. But it was more than that._

_Along with the sound of her bones cracking the sounds of sirens coming closer reached her ears._

_Maybe she was hallucinating, maybe she was not._

_When she closed her eyes she didn't know if she was ever going to come back._

* * *

_**Chapter I: Loup Noir**_

* * *

_..._

_**Chicago. Today.**_

_Strange, I've seen that face before, seen him hanging 'round my door.  
Like a hawk stealing for the prey, like the night waiting for the day._

Smoke, shadows and the booze flowed.

Bright light illuminating only her body while candles casted their soft glow on every table underneath the stage. Her voice a melody that filled the air. Behind her the orchestra played the music tune that accompanied the lyrics that were escaping her red lips.

She was leaning against the piano, her eyes closed, her breath coming out in waves as she sang. Her voice deep and low. Words escaping her mouth dressed as a melody. Pure magic masqueraded as a song surrounding everyone near her.

Every romantic soul was enchanted by her voice. Daydreamers and bohemian souls gathered by the dozens in order to hear her sing.

And so they did. And just like every other night for the past year, inside the wolf's lair she was singing. However she was not dedicating her songs to the audience underneath the elevated stage.

She was singing for _him_. For the man watching her like a hawk, monitoring her every move, claiming her with his gaze.

As she was signing memories were crossing her mind like flashes of darkness and light.

The cheerful young girl from the small town of Mystic Falls she once had been would not recognize the woman that was now performing on Loup Noir's stage.

One thing was certain. Her life had changed. So many times and in so many ways.

_**Detroit.**_

_**September 2013.**_

_The clock pointers of the old clock were set in the small hours after midnight. The drumming echo at each slow turn of the seconds hand was the only sound resonating in her small apartment. _

_She closed the door behind her gently, her hands shaking. The living room had surrendered to the darkness of the night. She didn't bother turning the lights on._

_Her heart was pounding wildly inside her chest. _

…

"_You will never have me," she had said to him just moments earlier and as always he had smiled tenderly at her._

"_We will see about that love," he had replied and had leaned over to kiss her cheek. _

_Or so she had thought._

_He hadn't kissed her cheek this time. He had kissed the edge of her lips. And had made her knees go all weak. _

_He had lowered his head then, his warm breath caressing her neck._

"_Goodnight…Caroline," he had whispered her name like a spell of seduction in his farewell for the night leaving her breathless and mesmerized. He waited until she would get in her house. His eyes never leaving her._

…

_She breathed in and out and without any second thoughts she closed her eyes and unwillingly smiled as she leaned over the closed door and touched with her fingertips the heated side of her neck. The same part where Klaus's lips had whispered her name after his goodnight._

_He, as always, had been a perfect gentleman and even though she had refused at first -as always- he eventually escorted her back to her house. As always. _

_He had been doing that every night after she would finish her singing performance in Rebekah's piano bar. Every night ever since he had first seen her singing in his sister's bar._

_Originally she had accused him of stalking her but he had playfully claimed that it wasn't stalking since he was obviously not hiding and not lurking around. _

_Besides as he always pointed out he wasn't hiding his intentions. He wanted her. He would not force her but he would wait until she would eventually become his. _

_She had refused him a thousand times. He always persisted. She had even asked Rebekah to keep Klaus away from her but her employer had laughed and told her that if her brother wanted something he would always get it. Clearly hinting that he would also get her in the end and implying that it would not be a smart idea to try to avoid him or run away from him. He would always find her._

_That admittedly had troubled her. _

_More so when she found out who Klaus really was. And what had scared her more was that when he was around her she wasn't afraid of him. Somehow he made her feel at ease. His presence felt electrifying and yet also soothing. It was insane but it was happening. Even with her past it was still happening. A weird disconnect between her logic and her sentiment. One that only Klaus could provoke in her._

_Eventually Klaus had tired her down and she had accepted him accompanying her back to her house without protesting that much. _

_Nowadays he would drive her back to her home and the silence between them would be either comfortable or vibrating with all the things they seemed to want to say but they would never actually say out loud._

_And she always pretended that she was not noticing the two cars that always followed Klaus's car from a close distance. In the same way he always had scary looking men surrounding him in Rebekah's bar._

_She had also realized that Klaus knew where she lived without her ever telling him. He had been sending her flowers in her home and he knew exactly what roads to take when he was driving her home at nights. _

_And that had originally startled her. Even though it shouldn't have been such a surprise that he had been able to find out her address. She should have expected that much. _

_What actually frightened her was that it seemed as if Klaus was creating a web all around her and expected from her to willingly trap herself inside it. And like a moth she was indeed drawn to the flame._

_However she had never invited him into her house and he had never asked her to. He always waited for her to get into her house and lock the door behind her before he would leave._

_At the first nights he was kissing the outside of her palm while telling her goodnight, which she had thought it was kind of cute but told him that it was ridiculous. After that he would kiss her cheek instead. _

_She had refrained commenting on his kisses on her cheek because she didn't want any bolder progress. Or maybe what actually scared her and left her speechless was how sometimes she wanted his lips to claim her mouth instead of touching her cheek._

_After that his lips would linger longer and longer on her skin and yet she would still say nothing but she would not turn her head away either._

_Their eyes always meeting then. His holding a promise, hers always guarded and…tempted._

_He was always gentle with her. Witty and charming. Seemingly harmless. But she could tell that underneath it all the fire he carried inside him was explosive and scorching hot; it would burn her and would leave nothing but cinders and ashes._

_She shook her head. No. She couldn't fall for him. Not for him. Maybe it was too late for that but she would have to put a stop to this. Before it would be too late._

_She had already paid the price of a destructive relationship. She couldn't go through that again._

_Something told her that Klaus would never hurt her. Not physically. But he was dangerous. Everyone feared him and with good reason. She wasn't blind or stupid. She knew perfectly well who he was and he knew that she knew. And if she was smart she should fear him too._

_She unstrapped her heels and threw them off her feet. Her bare skin touched the carpet and she sighed._

_She would make clear to Rebekah, again, that she was off limits. This time she would not leave any doubts about it. Her brother should stay away and if he didn't she would leave. She should make this clear to Klaus too. _

_Besides it wouldn't be the first time. She was tired of running but if she had to she would run away again, and this time faster than ever before._

_A small voice inside her mind told her that maybe it was too late. Maybe this time she wouldn't be able to disappear. Not from a man like Klaus._

_She huffed and went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. She took out her rocky road chocolate ice cream and tried to find a spoon._

_She sat on the kitchen bar and paid no attention at how her short tight dress rose up over her thighs. _

_She moaned when she had her first ice cream bite. Comfort food always tasted good and since she wouldn't experience any night of passion any time soon -or ever again for that matter- this was the next best thing._

_However it wasn't enough. It wasn't distracting her mind from its thoughts. Thoughts of a seductive English accent and of a dimpled dangerous smile. _

_She shook her head again and her phone rang. She blinked surprised. It was really late, past midnight._

_She answered the phone and when she heard the voice from the other side of the line she froze. _

"_Caroline," a familiar voice from her past asked._

_She gulped and squeezed the handset in her hand._

"_Yes?" she whispered terrified._

"_It's me Caroline. Matt."_

_She blanched, unable to even move. Matt was the only one that had her number and she had told him to never call her._

_Never call her unless…_

"_Is everything all right?" she asked him, her fear rising._

"_He escaped."_

* * *

_**Chicago.**_

_**Today.**_

He was sitting on the far edge of the club, amongst the shadows. She could sense his presence without even looking at him and she could recognize him among all others.

He always seemed to emanating a certain vibe that signaled danger. He was ruthless, a savage. Known for his cruelty, for being more of a beast than a man.

His blue eyes were now cutting through the darkness like daggers, aiming straight at her figure. His gaze never leaving her. He was nonchalantly drinking his scotch enjoying her performance as he did every night. He was not paying attention to the men that sat next to him. His eyes were fixated on her.

No one else dared to look at her in the same way or even in any other way. Everyone else would send her fearful glances of respect except him. His gaze was marking her as his possession.

_**Detroit.**_

_**September 2013.**_

_They had said goodnight just one hour ago. And just an hour ago she had told him that he could never have her. And yet here she was now, in the office of his house, across his desk, surrounded by his bodyguards begging for his help._

_In her panic he was the first one that she could think of. He was the only one that could help her. Protect her._

_The police and the system had not been able to help her four years ago and obviously were also unable to keep her safe now. So she had to find a more effective way to protect herself. She was not safe. Not anymore. _

_She had thought of running away and hiding but she would not be able to run forever. Not from her ex._

_She had then done the unthinkable. She had called Klaus, her voice a terrified request for help and he had immediately sent one of his men to pick her up and bring her at his house._

_He had welcomed her for the first time to his house but she didn't seem to even notice the extravagant surroundings. Rebekah was there too but Klaus told her to leave them alone and she had immediately obliged. _

_Then he had offered her a glass of scotch which Caroline had immediately drained. That alone had turned his gaze darker as he was realizing more and more the state of panic she was in. The way she was trembling had also made his eyes express menace._

_He had taken out his jacket and wrapped it around her and guided her to his office._

_He was intently staring her now. He was sitting behind his desk, his expression pensive, his gaze calculating. _

_One of his men was standing beside him and one some steps behind her. She knew that two more were outside the door and many more inside and outside the palatial mansion. This place seemed like a fortress and this was exactly what she needed._

_Klaus's domain was not even in Detroit. As far as she knew he was actually living in Chicago. She didn't know why he had decided to stay to Detroit for so long but he seemed to be living under extreme security precautions. If this place here was so guarded it meant that no one could ever get near Klaus without his knowledge or permission. Not here, not anywhere._

"_Why are you here love?" he inquired with a gentle tone and she raised her eyes at him with fear._

"_I need your help," she pled with a trembling voice._

"_Do you now?" he probed with a smirk. _

_She lowered her gaze and bit her lip. She hated her weakness and her fear. She hated the fact that she had to turn to a man for help. Especially since that man was Klaus. And what she hated even more was the fact that she was giving to Klaus exactly what he wanted and that his satisfaction at this was multiplying by the minute. At first he had seemed concerned. Now he seemed pleased._

_However she had no other options left. He was her safety net._

_She almost burst out laughing. Klaus, the man everyone feared was where she felt safe._

"_Yes. You are the only one that can help me. Please Klaus! I am-" she stopped abruptly and her trembling fingers fidgeted with the hem of his jacket._

"_Yes" he pressed and she fisted her hands and looked at him with a sharp gaze again._

_She took a deep breath._

"_In danger," she said. Her voice not wavering._

_Klaus pressed his lips and for a moment she thought she saw anger blazing inside his gaze. So hot that it scared her. But then it was gone and he seemed indifferent again._

"_From you ex boyfriend I assume?" he murmured with an inquisitive tone._

_Her eyes widened._

"_How do you-"_

"_I know," he simply said and her heart started beating faster and faster._

_She stopped even breathing when his gaze travelled slowly over her form. He scanned her posture, her eyes, her fear. He was taking every detail in and in that moment she felt more danger and fear than ever before. She didn't know what he would do and that scared her. _

_But if she was so scared of him then it meant that he was after all her best chance to survive this. _

_Klaus got up and prowled around his desk until he went and stood in front of her. He leaned to the edge of the desk in front of her and she lifted her head in order to meet his gaze._

"_What I don't know is what it is that you want from me," he played with her, his voice turning slightly mocking._

_She hated the way he was setting his trap especially since she was the one that voluntarily went into his den. He knew exactly why she was there and he was purposely making it harder._

_However she could not look away from his dark blue eyes. The sick satisfaction he was deriving out of this was making her angry and stronger somehow._

"_Protection," she said with no hesitation._

_The edge of Klaus's lips curved into a smile. And she realized that this scared her more than anything else. His smile seemed more terrifying to her than his rage. And one night that a man had dared to offend her in Rebekah's bad she had seen his rage. And it was not something she wanted to ever see again. _

_Back then for the first time she had realized why everyone feared him so much. It was the first time she had felt fear in his presence too. But now his smile seemed even more threatening somehow._

"_And what do you have to give in return for my protection love?" he asked and Caroline pursed her lips together in defeat._

"_Nothing. I have nothing," she admitted and Klaus's smile grew bigger._

"_So you want me to protect you from your psycho ex but you have nothing to give me in return. Is that what you are saying?" he taunted her and her heart clenched. _

_She looked away from him immediately. Her eyes shining with tears she refused to allow to spill. _

"_I have nothing," she repeated again in defeat with a trembling voice._

_Klaus trapped her chin between his fingers and tilted her face up. Their gazes met._

"_That's where you are wrong sweetheart. You have more than nothing. You have everything," he told her with a soft voice that left her breathless._

_He swept the tear that fell from her eye with his thumb and she shuddered._

"_You have yourself," he said, his eyes glowing with expectation and he waited until she nodded._

_And just like that what she had told him earlier that night proved to be wrong. She had claimed that he would never have her._

_And now she was his._

_In order to escape the demon she had given herself to the devil._

* * *

Klaus had taken her to Chicago shortly after that night, introducing her to everyone as his official mistress.

A derogatory term that she didn't renounce. Klaus considered it to be an honor however. An honor he bestowed upon her and an honor she was forced, and had willingly accepted, to endure.

She was singing in his club at nights and she was living to his mansion. She had everything she could ever ask for and even more. She had her own personal assistants that cared for her every need. Even her own hair stylist to brush her hair every night.

As if she was a princess or the perfect doll that always had to look beautiful.

It seemed too much at times but Klaus knew no boundaries. He was constantly lavishing her with excessive gifts and was always attentive when it came to anything that concerned her.

But what was more important was that she had a whole security team that had only one assignment. To protect her even with their own lives. She had even her own bodyguards. Klaus's goons had become her shadow.

Stefan Salvatore was the head of the security team that was responsible for her safety. He was always friendly and kind with her and always present. Aside Klaus, Stefan was the only man that was allowed to be close to her and the only man she was constantly seeing every day. She had later learned that aside Klaus's brothers, Elijah and Kol, Stefan was the most trusted man Klaus had inside his inner circle.

She was always watched, always followed. Klaus had made sure that she would never be alone. His guards were always present. Always near her, always giving their report to Klaus. That should be suffocating her and at times it did but it also made her feel safe.

Klaus had demanded her loyalty and she gave it to him. Entirely. She had relinquished all control and he had honored his side of their deal. He had given her his protection as he took away her freedom. She belonged to him now.

Everyone in the club and in the city knew that she was not to be touched, not even looked upon. No one dared to even get anywhere near her. A man would have to be insane or suicidal in order to even think to approach without permission the beloved of the King.

So now she was up in the stage in order to sing for…_him._

Her golden locks perfectly curled. The white dress he had chosen for her tonight hugging her body tightly; the top of her breasts seductively exposed and pronounced. The skirt underneath the silken bodice flowing around her legs with a cut high up her right thigh revealing the smooth skin underneath.

She was balancing herself on the top of her strappy high heels and her palm was resting upon the black shiny surface of the piano. The diamonds of her bracelet sparkled underneath the light rays from the spotlight that was directed straight at her. Their reflection was matching the shine of the diamond necklace that was nestled between her breasts and of the slim diamonds earrings that hang from her ears.

A long time ago she would have never thought that this would be her life. Once upon a time she was dreaming of another life. She was the cheerleader that would graduate with honors. She would get a degree in journalism and she would find the man of her dreams. Maybe a white fence and children would follow. And she would be happy. She would be a soccer mom, a working woman and a wife; she would be safe and her entire life would be planned and would be a dream coming true.

But it was the nightmares that caught up with her when the dreams run to the opposite direction. She had lost that life a long time ago. Truth was that she had never lived it.

_Strange, he shadows me back home, footsteps echo on the stones,  
Rainy nights, on Hausmann Boulevard, Parisian music, drifting from the bars._

She didn't get her fence. She didn't get the happy family or the noble prince that would keep her safe and would love her with all his heart. But here she was. Still breathing. Still standing.

Still alive.

Working as a singer in Loup Noir. In the prestigious club that belonged to one of the most feared men of the city; if not the most feared of them all.

Niklaus Mikaelson. One of the greatest mafia leaders this city had ever seen.

His family was one of the oldest mob families that ruled Chicago ever since the age of prohibition. And he, the bastard child of the family, had claimed the throne.

Him. The third illegitimate son of the Mikaelson family. The one that killed both of his parents and claimed the crown for himself. The one that exiled the eldest Mikaelson heir from Chicago and kept the second older son as his trusted right hand. Him, Klaus Mikaelson.

Known to everyone as the Wolf. As the King.

Her boss, her protector. Her keeper.

Here she was two years after she had left Mystic Falls. Living inside the golden cage Klaus Mikaelson had designed for her protection.

This was her. The woman known as the mistress of the King.

Caroline Forbes.

And this was her story.

_Strange he's standing there alone, staring eyes chill me to the bone._

* * *

Song: Grace Jones - Libertango (I've Seen That Face Before)

* * *

_Continue or not?_


	2. In the land of Gods and Monsters

**Author's note: **I have no way to express my gratitude for the response this story got. Thank you for every comment and every follow.

* * *

**Songbird**

* * *

_**Summary:**_ She asked for his protection. He gave it to her. But with Klaus Mikaelson everything came with a price and into his web Caroline Forbes went. However that was only the beginning. Mafia!Klaroline AU/AH. (Short Story)

* * *

**Chapter II: In the land of Gods and Monsters  
**

* * *

_..._

_**Detroit**_

_**November 2012**_

_Easy listening instrumental music was floating to the air. _

_The hands of the pianist were gliding over the piano keys. Sounds of relaxation along with the jazz melody the saxophonist was blowing to the air._

_Rebekah Mikaelson was standing to a shady corner talking to one of her clients when the doors opened and a man all dressed in black, along with a security team following him, entered her bar._

_She beamed once she saw him and run towards him, ignoring everyone else._

_The man with the dark blond hair and the stubble laughed as she jumped on him and he twirled her around while he chuckled. His men around him laughed also and when Rebekah stood on her own two feet she hugged him._

"_I missed you Nik!" she whispered and her brother smiled._

_Elijah had already informed her that Klaus would be coming to Detroit this month. They were having some issues with the authorities in Chicago and this was a perfect opportunity for Klaus to supervise business in Detroit while Elijah would be left behind to his politics and Kol to his bloodshed._

_Detroit was her territory; Although everyone knew that everything belonged to Klaus and just like Mikael before him he trusted no one. The new King had made changes but some things always remained the same. A different system but the same mistrust._

_Klaus had divided everything that belonged to Mikael to different factions. Every sector belonging to a Mikaelson brother and for the first time in ages to a Mikaelson sister also. However Klaus was controlling everything, and everyone, with an iron fist. He was the King and they were all under him. Devoted and obedient, otherwise dead._

_As long as they were loyal to him he would kill and die for them all. He would give them power, territories, control. In his name they could rule on their own and flourish on their own. They would have his support and he would even clean up after their mistakes. However Elijah, Kol and she knew that Klaus had his spies everywhere even in unexpected places. He knew everything at any given time. He didn't believe in trust and they all knew that if they dared to cross him he would not hesitate to destroy them._

_Even those that were not afraid of losing their own lives feared Klaus because they knew that he would destroy and even kill everyone they have ever met._

_Klaus could not understand that his siblings would never do that. They were in this together and they believed in him. He was a far better ruler than Mikael ever was. He took control and he rose to the occasion. He took great power and made it even greater. He was born for this and they were born to be by his side even if he would never trust them completely._

_In the same way she owned Detroit Klaus, with Elijah by his side, reigned over Chicago while Elijah was also handling New York. Kol had his domain in New York also, terrorizing Harlem, Brooklyn and the lower east side. From what she knew this year at Kol's birthday Klaus would give to Kol Los Angeles. A smaller faction that Kol would be able to control without Elijah's supervision. Klaus had done the same with her. Originally he had given to her Las Vegas to play but she was under his restrictions as Kol had been for years under Elijah's care._

_At first Kol wanted to be Klaus's protégé but Klaus refused because he didn't have the temper to deal with Kol that always seemed to take extreme pleasure at riling Klaus up. However Rebekah always had her fun by reminding to Kol that Klaus had chosen her over him something that always upset Kol much to her delight._

_Klaus's most trusted men, Stefan Salvatore and Marcel Gerard were controlling, under Klaus's wing, New Orleans and New England._

_It has been years but in her mind time seemed to have passed by so fast. It was just like yesterday when Mikael started losing his mind. Turning into an even more unstable form of his former abusive self. He was always volatile especially with Nik but towards the end he had lost his sanity completely thus endangering them all._

_And Klaus stepped up. He confronted Mikael, Esther, Finn and their allies. In a fight that turned bloody. Klaus won and liquor fueled days followed. And then more blood until it seemed as if Chicago was drowning in rain and rivers of it._

_Mikael's death had been a gruesome sight. A message to them all. Esther simply gained a bullet to her heart and then a heartfelt funeral in which Klaus attended with a smile._

_Klaus of course exiled Finn from their family's borders, however much to Klaus's dismay Finn had managed to create factions of his own in New Jersey and Philadelphia once he formed an alliance with his lover Sage and her family. He was a Mikaelson after all and after their parents' death by Klaus's hand he ran away. And Klaus let him, the first and the last time her brother had shown mercy to anyone was the night he averted his eyes and let Finn escape Chicago, bruised and battered and with several broken bones, but no fatal wounds. _

_They all knew that Finn would forever remain loyal to the diseased Esther Mikaelson and by their unwritten law he was the next in succession something that Klaus or even Elijah would never allow to happen. _

_Finn ran for his life that night and Elijah stepped down from the line of succession as he always supported Klaus. Better to be a general and an advisor behind the scenes than a dead King he would say. It was that time that Klaus killed everyone loyal to Mikael, dismantled the former council and stepped up as the new King. _

'_Long may he reign' was what the survivors would mutter bitterly under their breath. The King was dead, long live the King._

_Then change followed much to the dismay of many._

_One of the reasons Klaus had divided their empire was in order to create a new order different from Mikael's and to assure that no one outside their family would be able to rise against him. Many back then still planned to overthrown the Mikaelson bastard. Klaus needed to have trusted alliances and to expand his supervision while he was shuttering any reminder of Mikael's power. _

_It took time and effort. And most of all blood. A lot of blood._

_Now the structure of their family was different. Klaus had changed the ways of the Mikaelson family, something that hadn't happened for decades. With this system they would not have to be dependent on others. A Mikaelson would always be present and ready to summon loyalty and protection. If any of them was in danger individually and would be in need the rest of them would be able to provide safety, means, power. In their father's days everything belonged to one hand. Mikael's. Now however Klaus always had the absolute control but the power underneath him was divided._

_If she was to be honest with herself Klaus didn't plan on giving her Detroit. He always believed she was capable but not capable enough…Or so she had thought for some time. _

_Originally she believed that he had sent her to Detroit in order to isolate her. To put some distance between her and Stefan. _

_As he had said back then her love life was causing him a headache and he would rather not kill Stefan that was proving to be an asset._

_She had refused, screamed and cried but none the less Klaus forced her to leave Chicago. His men had taken her to Detroit and if she was to leave the city then Stefan's head would hang outside her bedroom's balcony in Chicago as Klaus had so sweetly warned. _

_According to Nik she was distracting Stefan and he had plans for him. Plans that the ripper of Chicago was ready to destroy just so he would be with her. Something that Stefan didn't do in the end._

_In the end Klaus won and she came to Detroit brokenhearted._

_However this was the best thing that could have happened to her. The first time that she was living alone without the suffocating attention of her family. _

_Las Vegas was a gift to her, but Detroit she earned._

_First time on her own, far away from the clutches of her brothers she blossomed into the woman she was always meant to be. A Mikaelson, in spirit and blood. _

_And she had even made Niklaus proud._

_She had multiplied their gains and she was supervising all aspects of their legal and illegal activities in Detroit. It took her some time before Nik and Elijah were convinced and it took some defiance from her part along with a lot of manipulation, threats, a few bullets, dismembered bodies and some severed gang heads she delivered to her brothers but she was now the Queen. And she was not going to step down from her throne. Her heart was mended and her power undisputed._

_Elijah had later revealed to her that Klaus hadn't sent her in Detroit in order to assure Stefan's development in their ranks. He had sent her there because her affair with Stefan was messing with the plans he had for her. Plans that ensured her position in power. She was meant to be a Queen and not just a princess in love and Klaus had made sure that she would get her throne and she would not throw it all away for an infatuation._

_And so she did._

_And now Klaus had came to her city. Sure she was spending some months to Chicago every year but having Klaus in Detroit meant the world for her. Showing to him her achievements and earning his approval was what she desired the most._

_Always and forever they had said when they were kids and the promise was still running deep into their veins._

"_You are looking great little sister," Klaus commented as he theatrically twirled her around. She smiled at him and took him to their private table. The one that was always empty, every night, waiting only for her Nik. _

_She ordered his favorite drink and she sat next to him, her gloved hand covering his own on top of the table. His men standing some feet behind them, along with her own bodyguards._

"_I've heard about your last involvement with the latest liquor shipment," Klaus commented and her eyes sparkled._

"_You did good Bekah," he praised and she smirked. Both of them knew that if she hadn't interfered the cops would have gotten the upper hand on them._

"_I only learned from the best," she complimented him intentionally boosting his ego and in return Klaus smirked at her. He knew she was buttering him up because she wanted him to give her permission to deal with the next gun shipment directly and not via Elijah's diplomatic means. The problem was that the next deal had common interests with New York and that was Elijah's turf._

_They kept talking for a while. Seemingly two people in a bar socializing like everyone else, drinking their drinks, smiling and laughing. _

_However they were also plotting schemes and murder as easy as others inside the bar where having a good time and were talking about their ordinary lives._

_Klaus had his hands rested on the back of the sofa, enjoying his cigarette. _

_Rebekah knew that her bar here was one of Nik's favorites. He always called it a Hybrid creature and he even created a club in Chicago decorated in a similar way that Loup Rouge here was. He had even named his club 'Loup Noir' as homage to this bar something that had sparked great pride to Rebekah. _

_This was one of her refuges after all. A place where more places coming together. Part performance space, part lounge living room; all decorated artistically. Never ending alcohol as the party would never stop. A place where people could listen, drink, dance, socialize. The perfect cover for working deals under the table._

_A personal haven with explosive chemistry, good taste, and prestige. Things Klaus always appreciated. _

_Rebekah and Klaus had been talking for some time when the lights dimmed and the music stopped playing._

_The only shadowy light now was coming from the candles in the table and everyone seemed to have stopped talking in anticipation of what was about to come next._

_Klaus narrowed his eyes and looked at Rebekah that smiled innocently and shrugged._

_Soon enough from the stage the sounds of heels clicking on the shiny slippery floor resonated all around._

_A woman dressed in a beautiful silk white gown walked to the tall stool behind the microphone. When she sat on it the spotlight illuminated her form and Klaus's breath hitched._

_The pianist started playing again, a different tune this time, and the girl waited with closed eyes as her palm wrapped around the microphone and adjusted it in front of her face._

_And then her eyes opened and it was as if her gaze was directed straight at Klaus._

_Green eyes setting his world in fire._

_Blond curly hair, a flamed halo, around her angelic face._

_The girl breathed in, the inhaling sound a soft echo travelling all around before her red lips opened and she sang. With the most mesmerizing voice he had ever heard. Klaus's body tensed as if her music had a life of its own and was wrapping itself all around him rendering him powerless._

…_In the land of Gods and Monsters, I was an Angel living in the garden of evil…_

_He could swear that the angel on the stage was a bloody siren._

"_Who is she sister?" he asked Rebekah while he was unable to take his eyes away from the beauty on the stage that seemed to be singing only for him._

"_The girl on the stage you mean" his sister playfully asked and he nodded as if he was in a trance._

"_My new singer Nik. Caroline," Rebekah said and narrowed her eyes at Klaus's reaction towards Caroline._

_Caroline kept signing, unaware of how Klaus seemed to be looking at her as if she was the only woman left in the world. His eyes sparkling with lust and interest. _

…_Screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed, shining like a fiery beacon…_

"_Caroline," he repeated, the name rolling seductively on his lips as sweet wine would roll warm down his throat._

_Rebekah narrowed her eyes more at him but he didn't pay any attention. He was focused on the blond that sang on the stage._

_He brought the glass to his lips and slowly sipped his scotch. His eyes never leaving Caroline. _

_Then she noticed that for a split second Caroline's eyes focused on her brother. It seemed electrifying, a sensation that was bouncing from the stage back to her brother. Almost like gravity. _

_She had seen her brother showing interest to other women before. She had seen his desire for war, blood, sex. For power and control._

_And yet it was the first time she was seeing him looking at another person as he was watching her new signer right now._

_As if he was positively bewitched. _

_And he was._

* * *

_..._

_**Chicago. **_

_**Today.**_

_You got that medicine I need fame, Liquor, love give it to me slowly,  
Put your hands on my waist, do it softly, ,me and God, we don't get along so now I sing._

Caroline was holding the microphone and was singing for Klaus. She noticed how he smiled at her at the choice of her song and she smiled back seductively. Something that seemed to always please him.

Her fingers slowly travelled over the mike and she closed her eyes.

She could feel Klaus's eyes in return travelling on her form. White hot passion was what she was translating in his eyes.

She was also wearing white like the first night she had first met him. If it was up to Klaus she would be wearing only white or blue for the formal occasions or black and red when they were in private.

As the song was coming to its end she noticed that one of the patrons had drunk too much and was ogling her from his table making certain gestures towards her and "compliments" while he was laughing with his friends.

She shifted uncomfortably for a bit, lowering her gaze and then she froze on spot realizing her mistake.

It was as if Klaus could always read her mind and understand everything from her expressions and so when he noticed her momentary discomfort she knew that it wouldn't end well.

She then saw Klaus talking to Stefan in what it seemed hushed tones and she closed her eyes in defeat when Stefan nodded and gave instruction to his men gesturing towards the company of men that included the person that still had his eyes rudely on her.

Soon enough indeed she noticed that two of the guards that worked for Klaus approached the man.

She looked at Klaus somewhat pleadingly but the coldness in his eyes made her own posture return to indifference. She knew not to go against him in moments like this so she kept signing while Klaus's men forced the man out of the club.

She only hoped that the poor guy would get out of this with just a bloody nose or a few broken ribs and nothing more serious but with Klaus she could never be certain.

If Klaus wanted the man harmed he would be harmed. If he wanted him gone he would be gone. Even permanently, one way or another.

In the end she, along with everyone else, knew that Klaus was always getting what he wanted. Always.

_..._

_**Detroit**_

_**November 2012**_

_When you talk it's like a movie and you're making me crazy cause life imitates art  
If I get a little prettier can I be your baby? You tell me, "life isn't that hard"._

_Klaus downed his drink with one gulp, his eyes set on the prize he had decided to take for the night._

"_Rebekah," he muttered with a hoarse voice and his sister looked at him with interest her eyes moving from Caroline back to him and vice versa. _

"_Bring her to me," he ordered with an unwavering tone that made even her feel uncomfortable._

_Truth is that she and Caroline were not that close but the girl was one of the best singers she had in quite a while and she seemed nice. She didn't deserve to become one of Klaus's conquests. She would either end with a broken heart or a ripped heart and she didn't deserve that._

_Rebekah tried to salvage the girl but she knew from the beginning that it would be futile._

"_You do realize that the girl is a singer and not one of Kol's working girls right?" Rebekah tried to joke and make it seem as if Caroline was not available or interested for this but she jumped startled when Klaus's hand gripped hers unexpectedly._

_You got that medicine I need, dope, shoot it up, straight to the heart please.  
I don't really wanna know what's good for me, God's dead, I said 'baby that's alright with me.  
_

_Caroline's voice echoed around them but her brother's reaction seemed to be silencing all sounds around them._

_Klaus eyes darkened and threw at his sister a deadly glance that turned her blood to ice. Rebekah's breath hitched and she gulped._

"_I won't ask again sister," Klaus warned her._

_Rebekah sighed and looked at Caroline that was singing across them almost with sorrow but when her brother wanted something then her brother would definitely get it. So Rebekah called for one of the waitresses ready to do what Klaus wanted. _

_Klaus let go of her hand and turned his attention back to Caroline._

_Rebekah could not do anything now. If Klaus wanted Caroline then she would give him Caroline._

_Once the brunette employee came Rebekah told her to fetch Caroline when she would end her singing performance. The waitress, nodded but as she was about to leave Rebekah added that she was not take no for an answer and to bring Caroline to their table the soonest possible._

…

_Caroline sat on her comfy chair in front of her mirror in her backstage dressing room. Her hands rubbed her neck and she looked at herself almost tiredly._

_She had been working at Loup Rouge for a few months only but she was doing well. She enjoyed working for Rebekah. The woman was a bitch but the conditions here were excellent and far better than any other she had encountered so far at the bars she had worked before. Plus she always loved singing and even though she had never expected that this would become her actual profession she was enjoying it immensely. The shallow part of her vanity loved being praised and even desired._

_She was thrilled to know that when she was up to the stage many would want her but none would be able to have her. Ever._

_But as always every time she would get a phone call from back home her day would be ruined. Her mood destroyed and she would be on edge. _

_She looked at her reflection and she felt such anger that she had to maintain herself from punching the mirror in rage. After every phone call she had to relive too many memories that were too painful for her to handle._

_Vicky Donovan, Matt's sister, had called her again on her cell phone today trying to convince her to come back home. Telling her that it was safe and that they she would help her adjust again. Vicky never cared that much for her so she guessed that Matt was behind all this._

_She sighed and unclasped her necklace and let it drop on the dresser in front of her vanity._

_She bit her lip and then without any second thought she turned off her cell phone. She removed the phone's lid and took out the SIM card. She looked at the can that was placed next to her dresser and she threw the card in there._

_She would never return to Mystic Falls. Never._

_She jumped startled when she heard someone knocking on her door._

"_Yes?"_

"_It's Jessica Caroline, may I come in?" one of the waitresses asked kindly and Caroline smiled. Everyone was so professional here. Rebekah had ensured that and from the looks of it no one dared to get on Rebekah Mikaelson's bad side._

"_Of course come in," Caroline called and soon enough the brunette came in with a smile._

"_Is something wrong? I was just about to change and leave," Caroline asked and the girl went near her._

"_Miss Mikaelson asked me if you could join her at her table," Jessica asked but in a tone that implied that it wasn't a request._

_Caroline narrowed her eyes. Rebekah had never asked anything like this before._

"_Is something wrong Jess?" Caroline asked worriedly and Jessica simply shrugged._

"_She said not to be late," the girl said almost fearfully and then left._

_Caroline's confusion and surprise got bigger but none the less she decided to go to Rebekah._

_She checked herself on the mirror, fixed her stray curls with her hands and straightened her dress. _

_Then she went back to the bar and one of the waiters pointed towards the private table where Rebekah was sitting along with another man. A beautiful man. Maybe the sexiest man she had ever seen before and was now looking at her with a wolfish stare._

_Caroline tentatively walked towards them and Rebekah got up in order to welcome her to their company._

_The man got up, eyeing her up and down predatorily and she felt chills running down her spine._

_His gaze was marked with appreciation and something dark she could not decipher. All she knew that that it was taking her breath away._

_She couldn't do anything else than watch him, almost scared of what he might do. _

_His eyes were glittering with possessiveness and it was as if he was memorizing the way she looked inside his mind._

_He was tall and seemed to have a well build lean body. Blue dark eyes and dark blond hair. He had a stubble and when he smiled at her a set of enticing dimples appeared on his face and unwillingly the toes of her feet curled as her whole body seemed to be wracked with goosebumps._

"_Caroline, let me introduce you my brother," Rebekah politely interrupted their staring contest and Klaus smiled at her without even looking at Rebekah._

"_You have a beautiful name sweetheart," the man said with a very seductive English accent similar to Rebekah's but far more tempting and Caroline blinked at the way he got closer to her. She barely noticed that Rebekah left leaving her alone with her brother._

_She took a deep breath and then she took a step back noticing the way he arched his brow at her reaction. She pressed her lips and stood her ground taking a step forward again and he smiled widely at that._

"_And your name is?" she asked him defiantly but inwardly guarded._

_The man's smile grew even bigger as if he was enjoying her spirit and the anger that flashed in her eyes._

"_Niklaus Mikaelson, but you can call me Klaus," he said and took her hand to his and pressed his lips on the top of her palm._

* * *

...

**Chicago. **

**Today.  
**

Caroline approached Klaus's table and everyone that sat next to him stood up immediately and even slightly bowed at her presence. She rolled her eyes as usual and Klaus smirked.

"Come sit with me love," he softly told her and she obliged as his men took some steps back in order for her to pass.

Klaus dismissed everyone with a wave of his hand and they scattered around.

Caroline sat next to him and took his drink from his hand.

Klaus arched his brow as she drank from the same place his lips had touched the glass.

He wrapped his hand around her waist and pushed her on him. He always enjoyed showing to the world that he owned her body and soul.

His thumb caressed her collarbone and she closed her eyes as she leaned on him.

"I am tired, can we go home now?" she asked him with a low voice and Klaus buried his head on her neck slightly nibbling the soft flesh there.

Home. Somehow she actually did feel Klaus's place as her home.

"Please?" she asked again with a throaty moan and he bit her earlobe.

He titled his head up and noticed that she indeed looked tired. His finger outlined her lips and nodded.

"Your wish is my command love," he conceded and she rolled her eyes at him making him chuckle.

She tried to move away from him but his hand held her tightly to his side.

She looked at him and knew that they wouldn't go anywhere before she would kiss him.

Her hands cupped his face and her lips pressed on his. His hand spanned around the back of her neck and brought her face impossibly closer to his, his lips demanding, his kiss passionate.

She opened her lips slightly and his tongue invaded her mouth, dominating it, stealing her breath away.

She barely heard a man clearing his neck but Klaus didn't pay any attention. He would stop kissing her when he would want to stop kissing her.

When he removed his lips away from hers he inspected with pride and a smirk the way she was out of breath, her lips all soft and swollen.

Stefan was standing behind him now and he leaned downwards in order to be heard only by Klaus.

"The FBI is here," he told Klaus and Klaus's eyes darkened.

"_For Caroline_," Stefan said.

_No one's gonna take my soul away_

_'fuck yeah give it to me this is heaven, what I truly want'_  
_It's innocence lost…Innocence lost_

* * *

**Song: Lana Del Rey - Gods and Monsters**

* * *

_What do you think? _


	3. Each man kills the thing he loves

**Songbird**

* * *

_**Summary:**_ She asked for his protection. He gave it to her. But with Klaus Mikaelson everything came with a price and into his web Caroline Forbes went. However that was only the beginning. Mafia!Klaroline AU/AH.

* * *

**Chapter III: ****Each Man Kills the Thing he Loves**

* * *

_..._

_**Chicago**_

_**September 2013**_

_The next day after their deal was struck Klaus took her to his home in Chicago. Caroline didn't even have time to talk to Rebekah about resigning from Loup __Rouge__ or to even pack her things from her house. Klaus took control and said he would deal with his sister and that his men would go at her house and bring everything she wanted. _

_From the moment she gave in to him he kept her close to him. It was then that Caroline realized with awe and dread that Klaus had stayed in Detroit mostly for her and what it meant to be with him. It was overwhelming and scary. Once he got her in less than twenty four hours they got to Chicago. _

_His territory he said as if he was referring to his own personal Kingdom. And his castle like house was probably the one of the places from where he ruled._

_House was one word for it. In reality his "home" was a majestic opulent estate. Secluded and surrounded by acres of plush-green land and never ending electric fences, iron gates, countless guards and impenetrable security systems._

_From the moment the limo passed the main iron gate and the cameras' control and closed behind them she realized she had past the point of no return. She didn't care though. She was impressed by the security. From the looks of it this place was a fortress and that is what she needed. To cage herself inside a place no one could enter. And from the looks of it Klaus had no issue when it came to placing her in a golden cage. _

_Klaus introduced her to the guards and Stefan Salvatore and to his personnel as the lady of the house. Which made her feel extremely awkward and weird. To the outside world he would introduce her as his mistress but to his domain she served as his lady. _

_Truth was that she had never been in the middle of so much wealth and she never had people following her around ready to satisfy her every whim. One of Klaus' assistants then took her to what was meant to be her room from now and on._

_A breathtaking expensive looking room that looked as if it was a 5 star hotel room. A bit impersonal but from the looks of it all hers. It was not tacky but it was massive. She also noticed that in the vanity there were products and cosmetics she was using. Along with her favorite perfume. And Klaus had arranged this in less than twenty four hours which made her realize that he was planning this for some time. He was planning to bring her here. Probably one way or another._

_She didn't know what to think when two girls came in and introduced themselves. One, Claudia, was meant to be her personal assistant that would help her at whatever she needed and the other, Angelica, was meant to be her personal stylist. Klaus had already introduced her to the guards that would always follow and protect her._

_She tried not to roll her eyes at Klaus' attempts to impress and maybe even intimidate her and she simply nodded. _

_She had expected to have lunch with Klaus that day but her meal was served in her room and later at night Angelica brushed her hair and got her a simple blue dress to wear and told her that Klaus was expecting her._

_Her stomach had turned into a knot upon hearing this. It was midnight and she was sure that Klaus was ready to collect whatever he thought she owed him._

_She had gathered herself and followed Angelica's instructions and let her pamper her and then followed her half expecting the girl to get her to Klaus' bedroom._

_However she only got her to some corridors further where Klaus was waiting._

"_Thank you Angelica, that will be all," Klaus kindly said as his eyes scanned Caroline's form and the girl nodded respectfully and left them._

_Klaus then approached Caroline and gently placed his hand to the small of her back._

"_I know I have been a terrible host today sweetheart but after my absence there were a lot of things that needed my attention," he told her as he lead her towards the single door at the end of the hallway._

_She remained silent and followed his lead. He wore a simple Henley and black jeans. His scent was overpowering her senses and she half jumped when they reached the door._

_She still expected him to get her to his room. She tried not to flinch when he opened the old mahogany door. She was ready for him to lead her to his bed, undress her and to have sex with her. A part of her felt as if this would be terrible and yet exciting also._

_What she didn't expect was for him to bring her in a room full of canvases, paint and brushes. A room with many paintings and build in shelves full of books. _

"_What is this place?" she curiously asked as she turned and saw how Klaus gently closed the door behind them._

_He looked amused as if he could read her thoughts._

"_You can call this my personal…sanctuary," he told her and she looked around intrigued._

"_Why would you bring me here?" she asked a little bit confused._

_Klaus smiled at her then and walked further into the room._

"_I am keeping some of my most precious possessions in this room," he admitted and she scrunched up her nose in indignation._

"_Seriously?" she said with an annoyed voice that made Klaus laugh._

"_Seriously love. But instead of keeping you here I decided to give you the room next to mine," he informed her and she squinted her eyes at him._

"_Did you like your bedroom Caroline?" he asked and she noticed that his question was sincere and didn't hide any innuendos._

"_Bedroom? I can hardly call it that. That place is like ten times my apartment in Detroit Klaus," she said with a tone that made it clear to him that she was not one to be impressed by his wealth and he smiled at her._

"_And FYI I am not your possession," she retaliated and he raised his brow._

"_How would you call yourself then?…after our deal that is," he asked her and she hated the smug look in his face._

"_Inconvenienced," she muttered and Klaus's laugh filled the room and she tried hard to hide her own smile._

_She straightened her back then and looked at him seriously. She was most definitely not his possession. Even if she had to stay by his side and even if they would have sex that didn't mean anything to her. She was her own person and in reality she was the one manipulating Klaus' interest. She was using his attraction towards her in order to stay safe. It was her life. Her choice._

"_I mean it Klaus. I belong to no man," she declared and he nodded as he approached her._

"_For now," he whispered creating a sweet haze in her mind and before she could reply he put his warm hand to the exposed skin of her upper back and gently led her towards the fireplace while pointing towards the soft cushions on the floor. _

_He helped her sit there and she noticed that next to her was a silver plate full with her favorite cupcakes and two glasses of red wine._

"_Do you like Oscar Wilde Caroline?" he asked as he went towards one of the book shelves._

"_Excuse me?" _

"_Oscar Wilde. Have you read any of his work?" he asked as he took a book out of one shelf._

"_Uhm…yeah…why?" _

"_Yes you have read his work or yes you like him?" he pressed and then sat next to her on the cushions. The flames from the fireplace next to them were illuminating their figures more._

"_That depends. I think I liked The picture of Dorian Gray the most," she admitted and he nodded and opened the book._

"_How about The Ballad of Reading Gaol?" he inquired._

"_Never read it," she admitted and he smiled at that._

"…_**He did not wear his scarlet coat. For blood and wine are red. And blood and wine were on his hands. When they found him with the dead. The poor dead woman whom he loved. And murdered in her bed,**__" [1] he started reading with a soft voice and she gulped._

_Time passed and he kept reading. Her eyes trained on his lips. She looked at him with wide eyes not believing that the man everyone feared and the man she desired and despised in equal measure, the man that had offered her his protection and had manipulated her fear, was a man devoted to art. _

_A man that would paint, and read poetry and literature. A man that would kiss her softly in the cheek but ask permission to kiss her lips._

_Soon enough she had made herself comfortable on the cushions. She had drunk her wine and ate some of the delicious pastries. She had propped her chin on one hand and rested her other on his thigh as she looked intently at him as he kept reading. His one hand holding the book and the other covering her hand on top of his leg._

_Klaus was so strange. She could feel his passion and his coldness all at once. A man that killed and tortured without mercy and yet one that he wanted to sit next to her and find comfort to words of fiction and poetry with her. A man that she had seen with her own eyes hurting others and yet a man that talked to her about genuine beauty and music and art._

_She could not believe it when he had started reading to her._

_He had simply sat next to her, opened the book that seemed to be old and all worn out and he started reading._

"_**Each man kills the thing he loves**__," he continued and looked straight at her for a moment before he returned his attention back to the book. _

"_**Some kill their love when they are young and some when they are old. Some strangle with the hands of Lust some with the hands of Gold. The kindest use a knife because the dead so soon grow cold. **__**Some love too little, some too long. Some sell, and others buy; Some do the deed with many tears, And some without a sigh: **_

_**For each man kills the thing he loves, Yet each man does not die**__." [2]_

_She lost all sense of time. All she knew was that Klaus had a magnificent voice. One that could enchant anyone. She should know. She was a professional singer. She was used to people looking at her in awe every time she would sing and yet she was not used at feeling so drawn to another person's voice._

_She was also sure that this particular poem Klaus chose to read to her in her first night at his house was meant to tell her something. Either it was a promise of a threat. A thrill and an intimidation. Her past, their future and their present written and spoken in old words. _

_But yet she could not look away and she could not feel fear. She was now older and wiser. She would not feel fear not even when Klaus recited the poem by heart looking straight at her._

"_**And all men kill the thing they love, By all let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword!**__" [3]_

_She felt oddly comforted. Because she knew that she had in her past a man that was a coward and had broken her down. First with kisses and flattering words full of false and empty promises and then with his fists and his punches._

_A man she hoped that maybe somewhere down the road would find himself in the "mercy" of the man that now read poetry to her._

_Because she also knew that now she was in the presence of a brave man. A man that would kill for her and maybe even kill her too. But if Klaus was to kill her he would do it with a "sword" and he would look her straight in the eyes. _

_Maybe Klaus way would be more cruel. He was already aiming for the heart. And yet her heart refused to fear him._

* * *

_..._

_**Chicago**_

_**Today**_

She looked at the grey walls and kept her calm. Her face a mask of cold indifference. Whatever the FBI wanted from her was of no importance.

Either they brought her here because of her past or because of her _present _she knew that it was a matter of minutes before Klaus would retrieve her. His influence surpassed everything and everyone in this city and that oddly made her feel relaxed and gave her an air of certainty.

_..._

_**Chicago**_

_**January 2014**_

"_**You have been the last dream of my soul**__." [4] His voice echoed all around her and her hands stilled over his necklaces as she inhaled his scent deeply in. A mixture of whiskey and smoke._

_They were entangled on the couch. A fortress of pillows was supporting Klaus's body while Caroline's had found refuge over his as if she was his personal blanket while a fluffy blanket was covering them both._

_He held her close, his one hand wrapped around her waist, as her head rested on his chest, her fingers tangled with some of the leather chords he wore around his neck. She leisurely but carefully helped him turn the page of the book he was holding with his other hand and then she made herself even more comfortable into his embrace. His accented deep voice and the way his chest was rocking her body up and down gently with every breath he took were her passage to dreams and other worlds._

_She would never admit it to him but in these moments she had found her personal safe haven._

"_**Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is the rule**__," [5] he read almost with reverence as his free hand travelled from her back to her hair sending shivers up and down her arms._

_She lost herself in his narration and in memories. Of her past life. Of her new life with him. Memories that hurt and memories that didn't hurt so much. So far Klaus has been the perfect gentleman. He hadn't touched her and he hadn't shared her bed even though months have passed since the day she came to his house. At first she expected him to disregard any of her wishes concerning this. That was their deal after all. He would offer her his protection and she would give herself to him. However he hadn't initiated anything sexual between them. Neither had she. No matter how there seemed to be times where both seemed to want to cross that line and give in to each other. _

_When they were in public he acted like a royal possessive prick that paraded his mistress around. Always claiming her and even kissing her and holding her close like an object. But when they were in private he never initiated anything more and he was always respectful and acting as if she was made of glass._

_She knew that he had to look ruthless and unemotional to the outside world and she never objected. It was part of their deal after all. But his behavior when they were alone made her respect him. Something she never thought that would ever happen._

_And even though they might not be having sex Klaus was set on spending many hours with her. To his club and at the house. He was taking her out on dates and they were driving around the city. They were having breakfast, lunch and dinner many times together. He was taking her shopping and at events she liked like concerts, the ballet and the opera. He was always attentive and gentle._

_His guards were always following them and she knew that he was always armed up to the teeth but she had gotten used to it by now. It seemed normal to her. Klaus enjoyed parading her around and she enjoyed how no one dared to approach her. It was a brand new world; extravagant, lavish, full of debauchery, blood, alcohol and shimmering bright lights in the midst of smoky nights and Klaus kept offering it to her._

_However it was these times she appreciated the most. It was right now that she felt comfortable with him. Almost every other night, like tonight, he would bring her to his painting room. His sanctuary and now somehow hers too. _

_He would offer her a drink and they would sit either to the cushions on the floor in front of the fireplace or to the red couch in the sitting area of the room. Then he would bring her closer to him and he would read to her or ask her to read to him. At first he was the one that chose the books and they would read and talk about them for hours. _

_When he would read she would gaze at his lips hanging on every word and syllable. Maybe to others this would seem ridiculous and pretentious but to her it was thoughtful and made her feel all warm and comfortable. And it was their secret. Like how would anyone believe that the mafia King had initiated a book club with his mistress that was not really his mistress._

_After a while he started asking from her to choose the books and so far he had seemed to be pleased with her choices. For the past nights they were reading Charles Dickens's novel, A Tale of Two Cities__._

_"__**Do you think that it will seem long to me, while I wait for her in the better land where I trust both you and I will be mercifully sheltered?**__" [6] He read and then with a sigh he closed the book with a sudden move._

_She blinked and looked up at him. He placed the book to the table next to them gently and looked intently at her._

"_There might come a time when the police will come to you. If not the police then probably the FBI or the DEA. In order to get to me," he warned her, his fingers tilting her chin up._

"_What do I do then?" she asked with a determined voice that reflected her loyalty to him and that earned her one of his smiles that were filled with pride._

_Because they both knew that her loyalty could not be bought and here she was giving it to him. At least to an extent. And that meant a lot. For both of them._

"_You wait for me to come and get you," he simply said and she nodded._

_He wrapped his hands around her bringing her closer. Their bodies intertwined._

_He then brushed her hair away from her face so tenderly that she could not believe that his hands could inflict unspeakable pain to others. _

"_I will always come for you Caroline," he promised and it was the first night she pressed her lips to his._

* * *

So she waited. Patiently she waited for Klaus to work his magic so that her lawyer would come and get her out of this place she so much loathed.

She elegantly crossed her palms over the metallic surface of the table and looked at her reflection in the two way mirror on the wall.

She was still wearing her white gown she used for her performance. Red lips and beautifully styled hair. From the stage of Loup Noir and the arms of Niklaus Mikaelson straight to one of the CPD's districts accompanied -for _lack of a better word__\- _by the feds.

It was all for show. They could have brought her here at any other time. At any day. Yet they chose to come and get her from the club while she was with Klaus.

She was now in an interrogation room. She remembered these kind of suffocating box rooms from a few years ago all too well. It was places like this one, all sterile and unfriendly, where she would ask for help and her cries would go unanswered.

People thought that after Elizabeth Forbes's death, and her part in it, she had not only lost her mother but also part of her mind. And the man that she was accusing for doing such vile things to her was the one that loved her, cherished her and above all helped her when her medication was obviously not working.

She never had any bruises to show to them so there was no evidence. She had no bruises to show to them because her "loving caring boyfriend" made sure to keep her locked up until she would heal. For her own good he would say.

"_She had tried to hurt herself again" _he would say.

He made sure that everyone would not believe her. No one believed that a highly valued member of their society was stalking her and raping her and beating her. No one believed that due to his family connections he had doctors in his paycheck. Doctors that signed on papers proving her mental instability.

They would interrogate _her_ for being assaulted in rooms like this one. Until they would turn her more into a victim than she already was.

Oh yes. She still remembered.

She remembered how she was fidgeting back then with her long sleeves unable to hide her trembling. She remembered how restless and helpless she felt. How she mumbled songs under her breath in order to feel safe. She remembered her despair and guilt all too well.

This time was different.

This time she was sitting on the chair with her back all straight and her expression neutral.

She was checking her red nails with a look of boredom knowing that behind that mirror people were already watching her. She could tell.

Being with Klaus Mikaelson and having people watching her every move had made her even more alert. She knew when she was being watched. She could sense when a set of eyes or even more were following her every movement. And right now people were watching her.

But what she did not expect was to see a familiar face when the door opened and two officers came in.

She blinked for a moment, her neutral expression slipping for a fraction of a second.

She gulped when the man came near her and smiled encouragingly to her.

But she had left Mystic Falls behind her for a reason. She had left her old life behind for a reason and seeing someone that belonged to that life made her relive everything all over again.

"Matt?" she stuttered breathlessly and got up. Her legs shaking.

Her old friend came near her and hugged her. His hug a warm gesture that didn't melt her ice.

Damn those wounds that refused to close and damn Matt Donovan that had followed her here and threw salt on them just by being near her.

"Hello Caroline," Matt whispered and hugged her tighter.

For a moment she closed her eyes and let his familiar scent wash over her. For a moment she left like her old self. She felt like the cheerleader she used to be. Full of joy and laughter. She raised her hands to hug Matt back but half way she let them fall and backed away from her friend's embrace.

"What are you doing here Matt?" she asked him with a harsh voice and Matt looked at her surprised as if he could not believe that she would greet him like this.

He looked hurt.

Behind him another man had followed. He was dressed in a black suit and holding black briefcase.

"Hello Miss Forbes. I am the detective signed to your case. My name is Galen Vaughn," he introduced himself and extended his hand to her.

She didn't shake his hand but raised her eyebrow as she sat back down to her seat.

"An FBI agent? How quaint," she sighed bored and almost huffed in exasperation. God she had even started sounding like Klaus!

Galen Vaughn sat to the opposite side of the table without any comment and Matt sat next to her. Caroline refused to feel intimidated by the stern way Vaughn looked at her.

"Mr. Donovan has informed me in length of your case. He is very interested in your safety as we all are," the agent said in a professional voice and Caroline leaned back to her seat with an ironic expression which didn't seem to deter the agent.

"I know that upon Logan Fell's escape you were visited by the police but I would like to ask you some more questions if I may," the man continued but Caroline shook her head.

"I am afraid I can't answer to any questions without my lawyer present," she replied with an innocent smile.

"And your lawyer is no other than Elijah Mikaelson correct?" Galen Vaughn asked her.

"I assume you've heard of him," she noted with a mocking smile understanding all too well where this was leading and she felt Matt shifting uncomfortably next to her.

Galen Vaughn then smiled to her as if accepting an unspoken challenge.

"You have created strong ties with the Mikaelson family haven't you Miss Forbes?" he commented intrigued and she let her nails leave a soft trace on the metal of the table as the agent continued, "Elijah Mikaelson is your lawyer. You have worked for Rebekah Mikaelson in Detroit and now for Klaus Mikaelson which also happens to be your latest love affair if I am to believe the rumors," he said and she shrugged.

"Is any of this any relevant with the case of my ex detective?" she asked in a casual tone.

"It depends," Vaughn said and Caroline kept her expression neutral.

"On what?" she asked pretending to be clueless.

"It depends on your willingness to enter the witness protection program," he told her and Caroline narrowed her eyes at him.

"And if I was willing?"

"Then all you would have to do was cooperate with us," Galen Vaughn said in a rigid tone that now resembled her expression.

"Which means?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"In exchange for our protection we would like you to testify against the Mikaelson family," he informed her and she let her eyes widen.

"Testify? Testify what?" she asked coloring her voice with the right shade of confusion. Too bad she was not recording this. Klaus would be having a blast with her performance.

"We would like you to testify about any illegal activity you might have seen the Mikaelsons engaging in," Vaughn pressured her but she blinked and then bit her lip pretending to not understand what Vaughn was telling her.

"I am afraid I can't help you with this detective," she replied nonplussed and Matt covered her palm with his over the table.

"Caroline listen to him," Matt pleaded with her and she turned her head and looked at him showing perplexed. She squeezed his hand and gave him her most honest looking expression.

"But I can't help. I can't testify about things I know nothing about," she incredulously told him and contemplated how aside singing maybe she could also try acting.

Galen Vaughn however didn't seem to buy into her act. She did her best not to snort at this charade. It was not as if Klaus included her into his business anyway but she indeed had eyes and ears. Something that the FBI seemed to count on.

"Do you really believe that these _people_ will keep you safe Caroline?" the agent asked her using his most sincere tone.

She nonchalantly shrugged; she was not buying into his act either.

"It is Miss Forbes for you and I have no idea what you are talking about," she coldly told him and the agent's huff felt like a personal victory for her.

"Yes you do Miss Forbes. You rely on Klaus Mikaelson for protection. Everyone knows who you are. They call you the mistress of the King do they not?" he tried to pressure her in a more aggressive manner now and Caroline smirked.

"I am a singer at his bar. I am called many things occasionally. None of which should be your concern especially if they concern my personal life," she pointed out with a sweet and yet unrelenting tone.

Galen Vaughn sighed and took a folder out of his briefcase.

"You have already dated one abuser Miss Forbes and obviously it was not a lesson well learned," he observed and the atmosphere changed in the room.

Suddenly there was a sharp edge in Caroline's eyes. One that didn't go unnoticed.

The agent threw some photographs over the table and Caroline pressed her lips unable look away from the photos.

"Those photos were taken in Logan's cell. He is obsessed with but you already know this first hand. And that kind of obsession does not go away," Galen continued and Caroline took a deep breath.

Logan Fell seemed to have written her name in every wall and surface of his cell. There were pictures of her too on those walls.

Her breath became labored and she tried to regain her composure.

Galen Vaughn placed more photographs on the table. She focused on the bruises. The blood. The cuts. The swollen face with the broken nose and cut lips. Welts and purple color all over.

"And these are pictures of you after you got admitted in the hospital the night Logan Fell beat you and almost killed you," the agent unemotionally said and she seemed to be in a daze. He then threw more photos towards her direction and she blinked confused.

It was not her in those pictures. Some photos were depicting men and others women. All of them brutally killed or beaten. In all sorts of ways. It was turning her stomach.

"And these are some pictures from other victims. Victims like you. Only those people were not facing Logan Fell but members of the Mikaelson family. And they were not as lucky as you," Vaughn mercilessly accused her as if she was responsible for those deaths.

All pretences of civility now gone.

"Lucky? You think I was… lucky?" Caroline rasped as she looked straight at the eyes of the pretentious asshole she was facing.

"Caroline try to listen to him. Please?" Matt tried to reason with her and Caroline cast him a gaze full of anger.

"Listen to what? To him trying to guilty trip me into doing what he wants? And what about you? How are you willing to stand by and join him in a crusade that has nothing to do with my "safety" but everything to do with his manhunt. Let me guess my cooperation will also bring the magical promotion word on the table. For both of you," she accused them. She was turning to ice now. The cold sweat was gone. She was feeling nothing. She didn't care for nothing.

Matt tried to make her listen to him but she has raised her walls high. Nothing could penetrate her armor now and if anyone tried they would live to regret it.

"Caroline this is not what this is about-"

"Sure Matt," she mocked and the detective tried once more with her.

"Miss Forbes your friend came here to help you. He sees more clear than you. I understand that your fear is blinding you but you are not the first woman Klaus Mikaelson gets to his bed. What do you think happens to his lovers once he gets bored with them?" he questioned and Caroline rolled her eyes at him disinterested.

"I am here to give you a chance to save yourself before it is too late for you," Vaughn told her now frustrated.

Caroline threw her head back and laughed.

"That's funny. Because when I needed your protection the first time you were not anywhere to be found. Not the first, or the second or any other time that followed. I had to go through hell and almost die for any you to come to my aid," she reminded him and heard the man sigh. She also noticed the guilty expression that was now painted in Matt's features.

"The system is not without fault. I understand that but-"

"_But_ the truth is that if in your mind I was not involved with Klaus Mikaelson we would not be having this conversation. I would still be an irrelevant case while Logan Fell would be on the loose coming after me," Caroline interrupted him with a glare.

"He is still coming for you Miss Forbes. You still need our protection," Vaughn said.

"The same protection you have me years ago? The same protection you gave me when you let him escape?" Caroline asked and then took one of the photos from the table and inspected it. It was a man or so she guessed. Instead of a face he had a gaping gruesome bloody hole.

Yes she knew what Klaus was capable of. She threw the photo towards the agent and then pointed to the rest of the pictures with indignation and resentment.

"Are all these pictures of dead people meant to scare me? Because when I was will Logan I was hoping to be one of them. And if you did not need me to become your snitch you would not care if I was to become one more faceless victim photo would you?" she asked the blonde man with a mocking smile full of contempt.

"Caroline you do not know what you are talking about. Detective Vaughn is one of the best in his department. He can help you. Let him!" Matt begged her and Caroline's eyes grew bigger and laughed as if she had heard the best joke ever.

"Let him help me? You will protect me Detective? How? Logan Fell escaped. This is how capable you all are at keeping poor victims like me that have not learned their lessons safe," Caroline's sarcasm had Galen Vaughn realizing that there would be no way to sway her to his side.

"Caroline do not do this," Matt tried again but Caroline shook her head.

"This is pointless anyway. As I have said I cannot testify about things I have no idea about and how much more about things that are not true. Trust me detective. From what I have seen there is no other family that abides to the law as much as the Mikaelsons," she innocently said with a bright smile. Well she was not lying. The Mikaelsons did abide to law. To Klaus' law.

The FBI agent clenched his jaw.

"Miss Forbes I understand that you might be feel a bit unstable especially after what happened to you after your mother's death-"

Caroline abruptly got up.

"We are done!" she announced and Matt got up and caught her elbow gently.

"Care please-"

"You are really going to let this asshole do this to me Matt? After everything?" she accused him. She was ready to pounce.

Her chin rose and she refused to back down.

"I want to leave. Now. You have no right to keep me here," she declared and it was exactly then that the door of the interrogation room opened.

"My client is right," a calm yet unyielding accented voice prevailed in the room and Galen Vaughn immediately placed the open folder on top of the photos in order to hide them from Elijah Mikaelson's inquiring gaze.

Caroline finally breathed in relived and smiled. Elijah approached the table and sent her an encouraging nod which she reciprocated.

Galen Vaughn got up.

"Mr. Mikaelson I assume," he said in an authoritative tone.

Elijah titled his head in affirmation.

"I am Miss Forbes's lawyer. One that should have been called here upon Miss Forbes's arrival," Elijah commented politely but with emphasis.

"We simply wanted to inform Miss Forbes over Logan Fell's case and offer her our protection. Your presence was hardly required," Vaughn said dismissively.

Elijah smirked and extended his hand towards Caroline.

"Allow me to disagree, Agent?"

"Vaughn. Galen Vaughn," the detective replied and Elijah nodded with a smile as Caroline went near him.

"Are you alright Miss Forbes?" Elijah asked her concerned knowing all too well that he would be unable to contain Klaus's wrath if anything happened to this girl. Thankfully Caroline nodded but not before sending a condemning glare towards the FBI agent and her friend.

"Can we get out of here?" she eagerly asked Elijah.

"Is my client's presence required?" Elijah Mikaelson asked in a professional manner.

"No, I think we covered everything," Galen Vaughn said casting a pointed look towards Caroline.

"That you did. And without her lawyer present. While you sent FBI agents in the middle of the night to her working place so to escort Miss Forbes to an interrogation room without any warrant," Elijah said and Caroline was certain that this was a power game between the FBI and the Mikaelsons.

"If there has been any inconvenience we can press charges Caroline," Elijah informed her and Caroline raised her elegant eyebrow.

"I do not think that will be necessary Elijah. As long as this does not happen again," she said with a cold voice and Galen Vaughn and Matt stayed silent.

Elijah took his professional card from the inner pocket of his jacket and handed it to Galen Vaughn.

"If you require my client's presence again you should first inform me and I will arrange you a meeting with Miss Forbes if she will be so inclined," Elijah told Vaughn and the detective smiled mockingly.

"I will keep this in mind," Galen Vaughn said, "I am sorry for any inconvenience Miss Forbes."

Caroline smiled ironically as Elijah placed his hand on the small of her back and escorted her outside the interrogation room.

And all she could think of was that it might have been Elijah Mikaelson that was getting her out of this place but in reality it was Klaus that had come for her. As he had promised.

_For each man kills the thing he loves, Yet each man does not die._

_._

_By all let this be heard,_

_Some do it with a bitter look,_

_Some with a flattering word,_

_The coward does it with a kiss,_

_The brave man with a sword._

_._

* * *

_References: _

_[1],[2],[3] : __The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde  
_

_[4],[5],[6] : ___A Tale of Two Cities _by ___Charles Dickens__

* * *

__No beta.__


	4. The Deathless Death

**Songbird**

* * *

_**Summary:**_ She asked for his protection. He gave it to her. But with Klaus Mikaelson everything came with a price and into his web Caroline Forbes went. However that was only the beginning. Mafia!Klaroline AU/AH.

* * *

**Chapter IV: ****The Deathless Death  
**

* * *

_I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife_  
_Offer me that deathless death_

_..._

**_Μ__ystic Falls_**

**_October 2009_**

_She kept thrashing against her bonds to the point where she thought that her bones would break. But it was of no use. She could not get free. The limb restraints would not give. She was trapped on that damn hospital bed. The last thing she remembered was Logan hitting her on the head and then everything went dark._

_When she opened her eyes again she was restrained on this bed. She knew this place. It was the psychiatric clinic just outside Mystic Falls. Logan's sister used to do volunteer work here some years ago and Logan was founding them and calling it charity._

_She turned her head when she heard the soft click of the door. A nurse came in holding a syringe. Meredith Fell also came in and her brother followed. Caroline shook her head in trepidation realizing that everything was spinning every time she even slightly moved her head._

"_Don't do this," she implored the nurse but the woman simply injected the drug of the syringe into her IV. _

"_It is for your own good sweetie," Logan said looking at her sympathetically and the nurse smiled at him kindly._

_Caroline grunted and tried to get free one more time but as the sedative started invading her veins her whole body felt lighter and her strength ebbed away slowly._

_Once the nurse was out of the room the atmosphere changed. All pretenses of civility were not gone as Meredith looked at her brother with a hard look._

"_She has a concussion Logan and two broken ribs. Soon enough people will start asking questions," she reprimanded her brother._

"_The room is private under another name," Logan said with a shrug. This was becoming a pattern for him._

"_Her mother was the Sheriff. You can't keep doing this to her and think it will go unnoticed. I can't keep falsifying the hospital's files! I do not even work here Logan!"_

_Caroline tried to focus on their conversation but she could barely keep her eyes open now. Her movements against the restraints were fading as she groggily tried to move her wrists and her head._

_She didn't want to go to sleep. She had to stay awake. She knew they would start pumping her with drugs and she tried to stay alert. But it was impossible._

_As she struggled to stay awake Logan's fingers threaded her hair._

"_You should really stop fighting Caroline," he whispered in her ear and then moved his head so to kiss her lips._

_Her eyes fluttered closed. She was unable to move. The last thing she thought before unconsciousness claimed her was that this was the end of the line. She could not take this anymore. She would do whatever it took. Even in the expense of her own life she would set herself free. No matter the cost. _

_She would make Logan stop even if she had to kill him or kill herself. It was either him or her._

* * *

_..._

_**Chicago**_

_**Today**_

Once they got outside of the precinct the cold air that hit her heated face was most welcomed. She shivered but she didn't mind. That room had been suffocating and her interaction with agent Vaughn had taken a toll on her.

But what hurt the most was seeing Matt Donovan again. She wanted to bury her past but the past kept haunting her. Especially now that Logan was on the loose she could not stop the painful memories from coming back to her.

She had been with Klaus for two years now and Logan was nowhere to be found. In her mind what kept her safe was the web of protection Klaus had created around her.

Her heels clinked on the pavement and she noticed that some meters away Stefan was waiting for her and Elijah in his car. She could also see more familiar faces on two bikes and another car. All Klaus' guards.

She turned her head towards Elijah while they walked towards the car.

"Thank you for coming Elijah," she expressed her sincere gratitude to him and another shiver past through her as the breeze around them became colder.

Elijah took out his jacket, wrapped it around her shoulders and she smiled at him gratefully.

Elijah Mikaelson. Always a gentleman. Always enigmatic. The ice to Klaus' fire. He and Klaus were creating the perfect balance.

He had always been nice with her. At first she felt uncomfortable around him but after a while the silence between them grew to be comfortable and she liked being near a man that seemed confident and yet calm and reasonable.

When she was anywhere near Klaus she always had growing palpitations and she always felt as if the world kept spinning and spinning; and then abruptly stopping and standing still but only whenever he was really close to her. It was like she was in the eye of the storm.

But when she was near Elijah she felt a weird tranquility and at times she was grateful for it.

She was not deluding herself however. She knew that Elijah was dangerous. He never exploded like Klaus and he never spoke a lot but whenever his eyes would darken everyone knew to stay away.

The Mikaelson siblings could be terrifying. In all their aspects. And yet she had never felt safer in her life. She might not be their family but she was part of their lives now and being tied to Klaus Mikaelson and his family was a terrifying but endearing commitment.

"Of course Caroline," came Elijah reply. She knew that once they would get into the car and eventually at Klaus's mansion he would ask her to tell him everything that transpired in that interrogation room in every detail over and over again.

"Klaus freaked out didn't he?" she asked. A bit of humor and understanding coloring her voice.

"He has not been pleasant during your absence," Elijah confirmed with a knowing look and Caroline tried to hide her smile without any success.

"He is not in the car with Stefan is he?" she questioned even though she knew the answer. She didn't know why she wanted Klaus to be there for her in person more but lately she did. It was as if she craved his presence more.

"He awaits for your return at the house. Not an easy achievement but necessary," the eldest Mikaelson told her and she knew that it was a matter of prestige.

The King of Chicago would never go anywhere near the feds especially for someone as unimportant as her. Being Klaus' mistress for most meant that she was nothing more than his toy. A toy he would keep in his possession and demonstrate but not one that would put him in a situation where he would have to mingle with those beneath him or one that would make him show any traces of genuine interest or worse…fear. And in public he was to act accordingly as should she in comparison with how they acted behind closed doors.

Aside from their connection however and aside from the fact that Klaus knew how much the FBI wanted to take him down even if that meant using the people close to him, people like her, Klaus also knew how much she hated these places so she was certain that right now he was already shouting and screaming to his own people to make sure that she was returned to him before the end of the hour.

She just did not know how much of it was pretending however. She knew that Klaus cared for her yes. In his own way. But she did not know if he cared for who she really was or who he expected her to be in his life. Did he really care for her or for his trophy?

She tried to shake away the thoughts of anger that were born from this. A part of her still cared about what other people thought and she hated that she had to present such a demeaning image to the public.

She sighed just under her breath realizing that she was losing more and more pieces of who she used to be and of who she once wanted to become.

Seeing Matt again made everything more real. The downward spiral that seem to have no end.

"Caroline wait!"

Caroline closed her eyes in exasperation at the sound of Matt's voice. He had followed her and Elijah. He was running to them.

Elijah placed his hand gently on her elbow and halted their movements much to Caroline's dismay. She could not handle this right now. She was just so tired.

"Is there a problem officer?" Elijah let his question drop in a tone that balanced between coldness and formality.

However Matt did not even bother looking at him. His eyes were fixated on Caroline while Caroline preferred to look at the pavement underneath her high heels.

"Caroline we need to talk," Matt implored and she grabbed the lapels of Elijah's jacket tighter for a moment wrapping the material around her body more.

"I afraid that's not possible officer," came Elijah's unrelenting rejection but Caroline took a deep breath and turned her gaze on the eldest Mikaelson.

"It is okay Elijah. Matt is an old friend," she softly said and almost flinched at the hard expression that graced Elijah Mikaelson's features. He seemed displeased.

"And a deputy," he stated and Caroline smiled bitterly as she looked at Matt with something akin to sadness.

"I know. My mother was his Sheriff after all," she said with a low voice and Matt gave her a sweet knowing smile.

Elijah towered over her and gave her a warning look.

"Klaus won't like this Caroline."

This time it was Caroline's eyes that were filled with coldness. The defiance that sparked inside her was something that Elijah did not expect to see. Not in public. Not outside the police department and certainly not tonight and under these conditions.

Caroline would have laughed at how a simple human reaction from her side could make the everlasting composed and self-assured Elijah Mikaelson to be surprised.

She took off his jacket and returned it to him.

"Let me deal with Klaus, Elijah," she retorted noticing from the corner of her eye how Matt seemed to be impatient to talk to her and how he was inspecting Elijah Mikaelson.

She almost rolled her eyes at that. Matt Donovan did not know with whom he was messing with and she had to make him see reason. She could not have her old friend get in the middle of the Mikaelson chaos. This would not end well and she could not allow this. Yes she wanted to let go of her past life but she did not want to put the people she once cared for in danger. Not good people like Matt. He didn't deserve this.

She turned her attention back to Elijah.

"Now I would like a moment alone with _my friend_ if you are kind enough to allow it that is," she sweetly said and the sarcasm that laced her tone was evident.

Elijah pursed his lips and with an elegance she hardly ever saw to any other man he wore his jacket and straightened his sleeves.

"I am not your jailor Miss Forbes," he unemotionally scolded even though they both knew that Klaus had no problem into becoming one and that in the name of his brother Elijah could simply take her away without giving her the chance to talk to Matt. Caroline suspected that Elijah would hate to make a scene and especially outside the precinct and assumed that she would eventually follow his directions but he was mistaken.

He was not Klaus and even if Klaus was here she would still not allow to any of them to treat her like she was an object. Not tonight. Not now.

"Then stop acting like one," she snapped at the elder Mikaelson that seemed undeterred by her reaction and she sighed realizing that she was lashing out to the wrong man.

"Elijah. I am sorry," she softly apologized, "I didn't mean it this way. I am just tired," she admitted, "I…I do appreciate everything you and your family are doing for me and I am not one to forget my loyalty to your brother," she promised and Elijah looked intently into her eyes before nodding in understanding.

"You have five minutes," He relented. His tone flat and serious and she gave him a curt nod.

She waited until Elijah Mikaelson put some distance between them before she turned to face Matt.

Matt watched with an incredulous expression the interaction between Caroline and Elijah Mikaelson. He could not help but notice how dangerous that man was and then he stared at Caroline with concern.

"How are you Caroline?" Matt tenderly asked her.

"Fantastic Matt. Especially after being dragged down to the police in the middle of the night for no reason," she gave him her mocking reply.

"There is a reason. A big one. You can't simply turn your back on this. You have to make a choice," Matt pressured her and Caroline arched her eyebrow at him.

"I already made my choice," she declared. There was something unyielding in her tone and stance.

"Without knowing all the facts?" Matt asked with an incredulous voice and Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Please. I know exactly what I am doing," she dismissed him easily.

"Klaus Mikaelson is dangerous. He is hurting people Caroline," Matt insisted trying to make her see reason but Caroline simply said nothing. She just gave stared at him with no emotion.

"How can you stand there and do nothing about it," he exclaimed upset.

Caroline barely held back her laughter. Matt Donovan. The white knight set to save the world when he could not even save himself or those that he cared for. An idealist born in the wrong time. Out of place and out of time.

"What would you have me do Matt?" she plainly asked.

"The right thing," Matt persisted and looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

Caroline snorted at that.

"Sure," she laughed out bitterly, "the right thing that as it happens is the worst for me but that does not matter does it? It never did," she retaliated, "as it probably won't matter if I'll have to spend the rest of my life in hiding. From Logan, Klaus, the world!"

"Is it not better than living like this?" Matt questioned looking perplexed by her attitude.

Caroline shook her head clearly showing to her old friend how foolish she considered him to be right now.

"No it really is not," she said sounding tired. There was no accusation in her voice. She was just stating a fact.

She then let the laugh she was suppressing came out. It was about to become hysteric but she controlled herself and noticed how Matt looked at her as if she had gone going mad.

"And even if it was as I have already said I know nothing about Klaus's hypothetical illegal business. I am of no use to the feds," she said dismissively as she stilled her amusement and bitterness.

"Come on Care!" Matt scoffed, "He is keeping you close. You live with him."

Caroline snickered at that.

"Even so Matt. I am his mistress. Not his second in command or one of his trusted men...if he had any that is. I am simply there to warm his bed. Nothing more," she casually said.

Matt then looked at her as if he could not recognize the woman he was talking to and probably he could not. Not anymore.

Caroline smirked at his reaction.

"Why is this so shocking to you?" she asked with a falsely innocent expression.

"I never expected you would do such a thing," Matt admitted confused. His voiced laced with disappointment that caused a cold laugh to escape Caroline's lips.

"What thing exactly? Screw a mafia boss or being blunt about it?" she candidly provoked him.

Matt ran a hand through his hair and looked at her gravely.

"Don't you want to want to start clean Care? To be free from Logan _and_ Klaus?" he insisted passionately. He was trying so hard to get through to her and maybe that would have worked with the old Caroline but the one she had become was not going to endanger her life in order to please others. She had learned this the hard way but she was done being a pushover.

"You know what I want?" Caroline responded with a sigh before she sent Matt an aggressive glare, "people to stop acting as if life is black and white," she spat and raised her hand to the air when he was about to interrupt her and she cut him off by continuing without relenting or backing down, "and _you _needto get off your high horse and stop acting as if you do not remember or know any better. When I got in the mess with Logan I went straight to the police and I ended up in a psychiatric institution. _You_ didn't help me then," she accused him and saw a flash of guilt appear in his eyes.

"No one helped me then and no one is going to help me now. The only thing the feds care for are to set a trap for the Mikaelsons and I am here to become their collateral damage," she said shaking her head.

Matt took a step closer and grabbed her arms in a desperate move to make her understand.

"_I_ care Caroline!" he promised fervently.

Caroline removed his hands with a look of indignation. She saw that Matt was hurt but maybe it was about time he faced reality. He owed her. Not the other way around. Not when her life was on the line.

"It took you some time," she bitterly mumbled.

"That is not true Care," Matt mumbled without a breath. But he could not even look her in the eye.

Caroline breathed in and looked at him seriously. She hated this. She hated him calling her that way. She hated him being such a hypocrite.

This was getting them nowhere. It was too late for this conversation anyway. It was just too late.

"Look. Thank you for warning me of Logan's escape two years ago but you should not have come here now and I really need you to go. For both of our sakes…especially _yours_," she cautioned seriously. There was a tone of worry in her voice. Because this was still Matt. Her old friend. She didn't want to him to get caught in the crossfire and get hurt.

"I always wanted the best for you Caroline. I still do," Matt told her honestly.

"If you do you will stay away," Caroline advised him, "I do not need FBI's protection neither yours. What I do need is for you to go back home and to not meddle with this," she insisted.

"Why?" Matt asked her sounding aggravated, "because you know that if I press you with this your lover might put a bullet in my head?" he hissed, "because you know that you are way too deep," he accused her and her gaze this time turned ice cold.

"If so then you should know better than to get in the middle," she bluntly told him off.

"Damn it! You sure now how to pick them! These people are monsters Caroline," he almost yelled at her and then gritted his teeth in exasperation.

"No. Logan was a monster. These people are worse than that," Caroline simply said with a shrug.

Matt's eyes widened in her admittance.

"All the more reason to come with me now," he pled with her.

"No Matt. All the more reason for me to stay," she refused and then smiled. A dangerous smile that obviously in Matt's eyes must have seemed so foreign. "Make no mistake. I am not the same woman anymore. I am not wearing any blinders and I am exactly where I want to be. If Logan wants me then _if he dares_ let him come. Let him try," she spat with a challenging look before she turned her back to him and left without expecting to hear his reply.

She heard Matt calling her name desperately but she was done with him.

"If anything I am sure I am going to enjoy our reunion much more than _he_ will," she said more to herself than anyone else as she walked to the limo.

Elijah opened the door for her and she never looked back as she got into the car.

* * *

When they finally returned back to the illuminated estate she noticed the commotion even from the windows of the limo. Everyone, the staff and the guards, seemed to be on edge running around in the gardens in panic.

She smirked amused and Elijah raised his eyebrow at her reaction as he helped her get out of the car.

Stefan Salvatore got out of the car also and gently bowed in front of her.

"Have a good night Caroline," he politely said to her and she rolled her eyes. This whole charade was a bit tiresome no matter how it was part of her life and of her safety. Stefan had become a tentative friend of hers during her stay to this place.

However whenever a Mikaelson was near her Stefan was acting like a robot and not a person.

"Good night Stefan," she said to him in a sweet voice that revealed her gratitude as Elijah led her from the lit gardens to the grand entrance of the mansion.

The guards opened the doors for her and she could not help the mocking smile that appeared on her face.

She smirked at how the guards had pale faces and how the personnel of the mansion still kept scurrying away making room for her to pass as if they were in front of the presence of a Queen. It was ridiculous but part of her relished in the power of it all.

Klaus was corrupting her and she was enjoying it.

"I could swear Miss Forbes that with every passing day you resemble my brother more," Elijah commented seriously as they entered the foyer and Caroline giggled catching him by surprise.

The sound of her laugh was rich as she received his remark like a compliment and the only sound that interrupted that sound was the mocking cadence of a voice all too familiar for both Caroline and Elijah.

"You make me sound like quite the bad influence brother," Klaus sarcasm reached her ears as he was already climbing down the marble stairs with a glass of scotch at hand.

He hurried to welcome her by leaving his scotch on the top of the newel post and going straight to her.

"It depends on how you look at it," she playfully mumbled with a low voice as Klaus stood in front of her and inspected her from head to toe as if he wanted to see if she was okay. He titled her chin up with his warm finger as he inspected her and she shivered. He was searching into her eyes as if he was looking for something and only once he found it he let her go.

She could see Klaus' eyes burning already. There was so much tension in there. Rage and insanity and power. A combination that could tear down the world to ash and cinders.

Caroline could see how people were shivering and trembling all around him ready to fetch his precious mistress back to him even at the cost of their own lives. And they were doing that every time Klaus would command anything from them. How much more when it came to something he really wanted.

Klaus Mikaelson's temper tantrums and his unspeakable rage were frightening people to death -and for good reason- and yet he never targeted his anger and his menace against her. He never laid a hand on her. He never used force against her. Their relationship had always been a game of manipulation and emotional control. A pull and a push. A game that left both of them breathless and unhinged. And no matter how twisted it was she felt safe whenever he was close. Even when he carried his gun warm under his coat and had his hands tainted with blood she felt safe. And that was enough for her. Despite of what Klaus and everyone thought part of her was giving him her loyalty and devotion not because of their deal but because of the safety she felt whenever he was near.

He was dangerous. But not for her.

* * *

**_..._**

**_Detroit._**

**_March 2013_**

_Loup Rouge had closed its doors to everyone aside those that were invited for Rebekah Mikaelson's private birthday party. There was a lot of commotion and noise and smoke. Alcohol kept pouring and everyone working in the club made sure to not notice all the guns people kept carrying with them._

_Caroline had sung for the most part of the night and was now waiting to the bar to get her drink. She had her red dress on tonight and she put her brightest smile to her performance. Rebekah wanted everything to be perfect for her night and Caroline for the first time saw all the Mikaelsons gathered together._

_She already knew Klaus since he was coming more and more often to Loup Rouge to listen to her sing. But it was the first time she had seen all the family united. They were presenting themselves like the royal family and Caroline didn't know if she wanted to roll her eyes at that display of power or be impressed._

_However she could hardly notice the rest of the Mikaelson family when it was Klaus' intrusive and penetrating gaze that kept following her every move. _

_She would have liked to say that she was immune to the way he looked at her but she was not. Every time she felt that flaming desire in his eyes bathing her from head to toe. It was making her blush and it was making her smile. _

_Ever since November she had been seeing him regularly. And every time he was trying to charm her with his stupid dimples and alluring accent. He kept sending her gifts which she kept returning and he kept trying to win her affections no matter her constant, and most often than not, blatant rejection. He was just not taking the hint! _

_She had never seen such a stubborn man before in her life. He was so persistent and infuriating. He was always trying to make her laugh and to give him a chance. It would seem as if he could not believe that a woman would not fall for his charms. His ego was almost as massive as his megalomania and that said it all. _

_She glanced towards the direction of Klaus' table and saw Rebekah laughing at something he said but it was as if he had felt her eyes on him. He turned his gaze to her from afar and raised his glass towards her direction smirking and she quickly averted her eyes ashamed that he caught her sneaking a peek at him. _

_She cursed under her breath at the way he would probably look all smug and satisfied right now._

_The barman finally came back and smiled to her as he served her drink._

"_A glass of cherry wine for the lady."_

_Caroline smiled at him as she took the glass._

"_Thanks Jerry."_

"_Loved your performance tonight by the way," Jerry praised her with a wink and Caroline laughed as she took a sip from her drink._

"_Thank. Let's hope the boss liked it too," she joked pointing subtly towards Rebekah and Jerry laughed with her._

"_Goodnight Jer," she said as she turned around ready to go to her dressing room._

_She stumbled back clumsily as she almost spilled her wine to a man that was standing really close to her. She didn't even notice how he came so close to the first place._

_He was tall and overly muscular and was shamelessly checking her out; something in the way he looked made her mouth go dry. Being so close to this guy made her feel threatened somehow. It was the same unsettling feeling she was getting to the pit of her stomach as a danger signal back in Mystic Falls whenever Logan seemed to be getting angry._

_She gulped and smiled politely. She looked around quickly. The place was filled with people. She would be fine. And Rebekah's security always made sure that no one would harass her._

_However the party was private and every guest was invited so she didn't want to make a big deal out of this and how much more when this uncomfortable feeling was just that. A feeling and nothing more. Sure this was only in her mind._

"_I am sorry. I didn't see you there," she carefully said and the man gave her a salacious smile all teeth._

"_No problem blondie," he drawled and she nodded and tried to leave. But before she could the man stepped in front of her blocking her way._

_She held her breath and gripped her glass tighter._

"_How about you keep me some company? You almost drenched me in wine after all" he laughed as he licked his lips. _

_Caroline tried to not grimace and she took a step back as he moved closer._

"_That would be a no," she coldly said and tried to walk past him once more but yet again he blocked her path with his body._

_She took a sharp breath and pressed her lips. Her hand was itching to throw her wine to his face even though tingles of fear were already running up and down her spine._

"_Are you sure doll?" he insisted as he took yet again one more step forward._

_This time Caroline stood her ground._

"_Positive," she said frustrated and tried to walk around him but he only chuckled and didn't let her move._

_Caroline looked around and noticed how the guards of the club were doing nothing to help her this time. It was probably because this was one of Rebekah's honored guests._

_She was starting to feel extremely threatened but the man didn't seem to mind. He didn't seem to be taking a no for an answer either._

_He came closer and leaned over. Their chests were almost touching as she felt her back hitting on one of the stools of the bar table. _

"_And why does it seem to me that you are from those chicks that by no they mean yes?" he lewdly laughed and Caroline tried to move away again but once more his body seemed to be like a brick wall meant to stop her getaway._

_She was starting to panic now. She left her wine on the surface of the bar and looked at the man straight at the eyes with as much seriousness and anger she could master._

"_Let me pass," she said trying to keep her tone clear and strict._

_The man snorted and grabbed her by the arm bringing her closer. _

"_Or else?"_

_Caroline was ready to knee him in the balls when a voice from behind the creep that was manhandling made her hold her breath._

"_You heard the lady. She's not interested."_

_The man that was holding her immediately let her go as Klaus stepped in. Caroline breathed in relief and rubbed her arm with her hand at the place that idiot had grabbed her. _

_When Klaus saw that his eyes darkened and a muscle on his jaw clenched. Somehow she felt her blood turn to ice as Klaus' lips turned to a thin line. He turned his attention to the unknown man but Caroline was sure that Klaus knew him._

"_Hey man I didn't know she was yours," the man immediately apologized and stepped back raising his hands on the air in surrender. _

_Klaus didn't say anything but Caroline swallowed hard at the way he placed himself in front of her and put his hand on the man's shoulder. It seemed like a friendly gesture but she could feel how the awful guy that looked all threatening and powerful moments before was now cowering before Klaus. _

_People around them had stopped talking or even moving and simply watched. The man that was harassing her some moments before now stood immobilized as Klaus smirked and leaned over to whisper something to his ear._

_Whatever it was it made the other man's face go pale and she trembled on her spot._

_Caroline blinked as Klaus gave a slight nod to his own men and they came towards them. The gaze Klaus gave to his people seemed to be a form of code or a silent communication of sorts. Because they came at them looking certain of what Klaus wanted. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion now. _

_Before the man could even say anything Klaus' men had grabbed him and were pulling him towards the back exit as he was screaming for Klaus to forgive him._

_Caroline gave Klaus an incredulous look as she looked at how his all in dressed black men were dragging the man that was frantically calling out for mercy._

_Soon enough his voice got lost in the music and Klaus cast to people around them a deadly glare and suddenly everyone was minding their own business again and acting as if nothing had happened._

_Caroline opened her mouth to speak but realized that no sound could come out. She was in shock._

_What had just happened?_

_Klaus looked at her and his finger grazed the part of skin on her arm she had previously rubbed. _

_Caroline dropped her gaze and followed his finger with her eyes as shivers were born in her body. She glanced up and noticed how Klaus looked at her. With worry and affection._

"_Are you alright love?" he tenderly asked her and Caroline got a whiplash by how his mood had changed. The formidable man that caused terror just moments ago had disappeared and the charming gentleman was back._

"_Uh…yeah...thanks…. I guess," she muttered confused and Klaus smiled._

"_No problem sweetheart," he said and helped her sit on one of the stools. She was shaken up a bit but not because that man had harassed her. Everything that transpired seemed so surreal. _

_She had heard the rumors about the Mikaelsons and about Klaus but it was another thing to have suspicions and another thing to watch without doubt all the rumors coming true just before your eyes._

_Caroline looked at the direction Klaus' men had taken the man. This was not right. She did not want anyone to be hurt in her name…or worse._

"_What is going to happen to him?" she quietly asked and Klaus shrugged dismissively as if her question was irrelevant._

"_Nothing for you to worry about."_

_She gaped at his audacity and calm demeanor._

"_Like hell it isn't!" she angrily protested and Klaus raised his eyebrow impressed by her reaction._

"_Seriously! What's going to happen to him?" she urgently pressed Klaus who sat on the tall stool opposite to her._

_His lips curled in amusement._

"_Nothing tragic sweetheart. He will simply learn how to treat the fair sex better," he simply said and Caroline huffed in exasperation._

"_By men that I am so sure are the poster boys for feminism."_

_Klaus laughed but the sound was not pleasant to her ears. She wanted to scream at him now. _

"_You are impossible! And you didn't even have to do that. I had it handled," she accused him and Klaus gave her a gentle smile._

"_I know."_

_Caroline blinked at how sincere he sounded for a moment there._

"_I am not joking Klaus!" she lashed out and Klaus' smile grew wider._

"_Neither am I," he honestly responded._

"_Then why-"_

"_Why I stepped in?"_

_Caroline nodded and Klaus took her palm into his hand. He leaned over and kissed the inner side of her wrist without taking his eyes away from hers. _

_His scent had enveloped her and everything around them disappeared._

"_In what universe would I see you in any kind of danger sweetheart and I would not come to your aid?"_

_Those words were enough to break the spell he had created between them and she yanked away her hand from his. The place his lips had touched her skin burned but she also burned inside from an anger that was born years ago. She refused to be weak. She refused to allow to men to become the villains and the heroes to her story. And how much more men like Klaus that aimed to be both._

"_I do not need a savior," she coldly said as she put her walls up once more._

_Klaus narrowed his eyes. He was looking at her as if he was searching for something._

_And what scared Caroline the most was his ability to read people. And the fact that somehow he seemed to have found in her eyes what he was looking for._

_She opened her mouth to tell him goodbye as she wanted to get away from him but Klaus interrupted her even before she had the opportunity to speak._

"_Then maybe we should just even the score. Repay me for my not needed help?"_

_His eyes sparkled with mischief and Caroline felt almost drawn to that feeling too._

"_You overstepped. I did not ask for your help," she dismissed him with a voice full with indignation and Klaus held back his laughter._

"_Well sweetheart I promise that I won't give you my help again unless you ask," he seriously told her with a curt nod and then smirked._

"_However no matter how unwelcome my help was tonight when it came to your persistent admirer it was given. And from the looks of it you do not seem the kind of a woman that wants to own favors to men," he playfully stated and she rolled her eyes._

"_Of course you would ask something in return. The Devil always does," she sarcastically mumbled and Klaus arched his eyebrow at her._

"_I'll take that as a compliment."_

"_It was not meant to be one," she denied in a childish manner that had Klaus laughing as if he had no care in the world. _

_People around them looked at Klaus in surprise. As if they were not used to hear him laugh in that way. As if his genuine response was something new to them. It was not a cruel laugh and not an ironic one. It was not a signal of danger. It was just him laughing._

_And all Caroline could think was how enticing that sound was. So boyish and carefree and she somehow doubted that Klaus was used to laugh that way. Or at least she was willing to bet that he had forgotten how to do so._

"_I know sweetheart," he said, mirth dancing in his eyes. _

_Caroline looked at him and compressed her lips in an attempt to stop herself from smiling since his amusement seemed to be contagious. _

"_So what do you want for saving the damsel in distress," she grumbled with suspicion._

"_Just a drink love," Klaus asked and reached for the drink she had left on the bar._

_He twirled the liquid inside the glass and smelled it. Caroline watched him with a furrowed brow._

"_I am sorry what are you doing?"_

"_You love cherries sweetheart?" _

_She nodded and Klaus raised his hand calling Jerry. The barman immediately came to take Klaus' order._

"_Mate how about you get a Marasca Fizz for our lovely singer here and a Krug Grande __Cuvée __for me?" he said and gave to Jerry her glass to take back._

_Caroline crossed her hands in front of her chest._

"_Seriously? I already had a drink!" she complained as Jerry quickly brought them their drinks. The bartender now seemed serious as he strived to impress Klaus and Caroline refrained from rolling her eyes._

_Klaus took their drinks and offered her the one he chose for her._

"_Yes but is not champagne our thing love?" he observed with a seductive voice as Caroline took the tall flute that was filled with chilled champagne and a blend of maraschino and sour cherries in her hand. She was willing to bet that Jerry had used the same champagne for her drink as the one Klaus had requested for himself._

"_We do not have a thing," she disagreed promptly and Klaus gave her a taunting smirk. _

"_Don't we?" he challenged and clanked his glass with hers with a knowing look._

_Caroline took a deep breath before she brought the rim of the glass to her lips._

_Klaus followed her every move as the heavenly flavor of the bubbly champagne hit her tongue. She almost moaned as she savored the unique taste that exploded in her mouth and soon ran down her throat already creating a slight dizziness._

_She didn't take her eyes from his as he took a sip from his own champagne. _

_She lowered the glass and played with the crystal in her fingers twirling the glass slowly in her hand._

_She licked her lips before she drained the remaining alcohol._

"_So obviously the rumors are true," she said in a low voice. Her tone was revealing simply an acknowledgement over a fact and no hint of accusation._

_Klaus stared down at her until she raised her gaze to meet hers._

"_Which rumors would that be sweetheart?"_

_Caroline gave him a knowing look accompanied by a bitter smile. She already knew who Klaus was even though she had never asked him before and Klaus was not an idiot. He already knew what she was talking about but he wanted her to be direct._

"_Those that say you are dangerous," she clarified, her gaze defiant and fearless. _

_The smirk that highlighted his dimples was not playful or charming this time. It was dark and it made her heart pound faster. She gripped her glass._

"_Well?" she insisted wanting from Klaus to give her a direct answer also. _

_Klaus took the glass away from her hand and set it aside before he gave her his full attention. There was something unyielding and serious in the way he looked at her but most of all honest._

"_Yes," he simply admitted. He did not have a hint of shame or remorse in his voice. He was simply stating a fact and Caroline felt an ominous portent of danger surrounding them both._

_Why was she not running away?_

_Klaus took her hand into his and entangled his fingers and with hers._

"_But not for you."_

_Caroline held her breath but she did not remove her hand from his. Instead she squeezed his fingers. She didn't know why she believed him but she did. She probably shouldn't but somehow she trusted him._

_She never learned what happened to the man that harassed her. But after that night no one dared to make a move at her ever again. _

* * *

Caroline looked straight in Klaus' blue eyes and noticed how tensed he seemed and she nodded slightly as he rubbed her upper arms with his warm hands. Their slow communication seemed to take away Klaus' tension even though he did not take his eyes away from her for a long moment.

He seemed to be in the grip of a powerful emotion when Elijah cleared his throat awkwardly.

Klaus took a step back and Caroline hated the way he seemed to raise his walls again. She understood it but she did not like it.

"We will take this to my office Elijah," Klaus said strictly and Caroline realized he was dismissing her. She wanted to stomp her foot down but she understood that in front of Elijah this was not the Klaus he was used to be around her behind closed doors. And after what happened tonight she was certain that she did not want to push Klaus's limits.

"I will wait for you," she simply said and Klaus smiled and kissed her forehead gently as she turned around and walked towards the stairs in the foyer leaving the two brothers alone. Behind her people seemed to be on edge. Ready to serve her and to make sure she was fine.

She sighed and took the glass Klaus had left on marble post. She drained what was left from it and only wished it had been something less bitter.

* * *

After taking a hot bath and washing all the day's events away from her she waited in her bedroom for Klaus to come and find her.

Claudia wanted to pamper her as always but instead Caroline sat on her vanity and watched her reflection on the mirror. Without all the make up on she felt a little bit exposed. It seemed as if she had created certain shields to protect herself from the world. A dash of perfume, some red lipstick and dark eye shadow kept her anxiety well hidden from the world and at bay.

Now as she sat on the French vanity stool wrapped in her cream silk short robe all she could do was comb her hair in silence as Claudia was fixing the sheets and the pillows on her bed making sure that she would be comfortable in her sleep.

All this attention really irritated her lately. At first it seemed awkward and funny to her and honestly which girl would not like to be treated like a princess? But at the same moment it was as if Klaus had made sure that eyes devoted to him would follow her constantly.

She was never alone. Not even in her personal space and this was far less about her security and much more about Klaus' insanity and need to show to her who she belonged to. He was such a control freak. Even compared to her and that said a lot.

The atmosphere changed.

She looked through the mirror the tall figure that strode in her room. She noticed how he did not bother closing the doors behind him and how his posture seemed tense. Obviously his discussion with Elijah did not sooth his nerves.

Caroline let her silver brush on the table in front of her and she rolled her eyes as she noticed how Claudia immediately dropped what she was doing and looked at Klaus with fear and utter mindless obedience.

Caroline wanted to scream at her that Klaus was not royalty and was not the King of the world no matter how much he believed he was.

Klaus however didn't seem to even notice what the girl was doing. He had caught Caroline's gaze through the mirror. Assessing her.

"Leave us," he dismissed Claudia without even bothering to look at her and the girl hurried out of the room as respectfully and as fast as she could.

When Claudia closed the doors at her exit Caroline swirled around and arched a brow waiting for him to ask.

Which of course he did.

"What did they want love?" he casually asked and she held back her smile at his predictability and the paranoia that was vibrating in his tone.

Obviously Elijah had told him everything. Everything she had told him in the car and even everything about her encounter with Matt. And for that she had to keep Klaus distracted. Matt was involved with the Feds now and she didn't want Klaus to send them a message through her old friend. And she had to make sure of that.

So instead of rushing to give him an answer like everyone else would Caroline simply checked Klaus out.

Her eyes roamed over his body.

He had taken out his suit jacket. He was only wearing a crisp white shirt. The collar of the shirt was open and the first top buttons were undone revealing the necklaces he wore underneath. He had rolled the sleeves up to his elbow and from the looks of his unruly curls he must have been running his hand a lot through his hair tonight.

His appearance should seem disheveled but instead he looked sexy which was totally unfair. She ran her tongue over her upper lip and shrugged.

"Didn't Elijah tell you?" she avoid giving him a straight answer while she gave him most innocent smile. Klaus narrowed his eyes and gave her a warning look.

He took some steps closer to her and she crossed her legs revealing to him the skin of her leg up to her thigh. All was fair in love and war after all.

His eyes sparked at the seductive alluring way she sat. Ever since they had slept together this game of theirs never ended. Where she pulled he pushed. A siren's game of temptation from both sides. Hungry, demanding and never ending.

She had never felt such passion before. Klaus had managed to take down all her walls. After Logan she was afraid to give herself to another man. To let another man touch her. But having sex with Klaus Mikaelson was empowering. He was all about dominating her but he was also all about surrendering his control. Having such a man coming undone only by her touch was making her fall deeper down the rabbit hole.

Klaus Mikaelson had touched her wounds and tried to heal them with a lot of patience and a lot of passion but no matter their deal he also waited and gave her a choice on this.

So now all she wanted was to give in to the pleasure and the need she felt. Giving in to Klaus had been unavoidable but she was enjoying the outcome.

They never gave their hearts but their bodies were singing a different tune. A tune that had turned Klaus more possessive and more attentive and now he wanted to make sure that she would still remain by his side. He wanted to eliminate every doubt he had and he wanted to make her understand that she could not leave him. And yet she could tell that she was distracting him.

Wanting her was his Achilles heel. It was clouding his mind. She could tell and that made her heart beat so much faster. She wanted him to want her like that. Damn the consequences.

She could tell that he was enjoying her sight right now. He always preferred her like this. With clear skin. No make up. Wrapped in fine silk with her curls loose framing her face.

And yet his resolve didn't break. She held back a sigh.

"I would rather if you were to tell me love," he suggested with a low voice that created heat waves to erupt just underneath her skin. Other would feel dread. She felt feverish instead.

"Information about you," she simply replied and Klaus smirked as he reached her. For a moment he stood close and his penetrating gaze travelled slowly over her form taking in every detail. His fingertip trailed the curve of her shoulder. The cool silk slightly moving on her flesh making shivers run down her spine. He let his nail graze the pulse on her neck making her breath turn erratic.

"How disappointing. I expected at least some more ingenuity," he mocked as eventually his hand leisurely threaded her blonde locks. She titled her head up and let her head fall back a bit as his fingers massaged her head; his thumb drawing patterns behind her ear. She took a deep breath in and almost purred at how this simple gesture created her to relax and feel all tense at one.

She could hardly focus. He was standing too close and she had a very long day. All she wanted was to let go and let his hands do wonders on her body. And to have him stop seeking answers she did not want to give like a bloodhound.

However instead of closing her eyes and allowing herself to enjoy Klaus' manipulative touch she stared up at him.

"They offered to get me into the witness protection program," she revealed promptly and noticed how his body stiffened at that momentarily. He let go of her hair and gave her a dashing smirk.

Those stupid dimples would be the death of her.

"Did they now?" he asked trying to sound nonchalant which caused Caroline to give him in return a wicked smile.

She got up and slowly approached him as he pushed his hands inside the pockets of his black trousers.

She played with the open collar of his shirt as she tried to straighten it with slow movements. Klaus eyes never leaving her face.

"Yup. To get me far away from Logan's grasp," she delivered her response as if this was something completely uninteresting.

She immediately noticed how his lips curved in a slow humorless smile.

"And from mine," he noticed softly. His tone slightly mocking but the mockery didn't reach his eyes. She let her hands drop and their gazes locked.

His had turned dark. The blue shade that adorned his eyes shifted to a black shadow. She could not help but look at those eyes all mesmerized. But the hint of instinctual fear that rushed through her veins reminded her that no matter what Klaus was still a man that was not to be trifled with.

Times like these she felt like Klaus' prey and she knew how much he enjoyed the hunt.

And yet every time that she challenged him. Every time that she was taking that dangerous dare she was feeling alive. And she wanted to feel alive. She wanted him to make her feel alive again.

With her past this should scare her but deep down she knew that Klaus would never hurt her. Not physically.

"Yes," she nodded and almost took a step back at the way he clenched his jaw.

She gave him a stare meant to hide a supposedly veiled rejection and she almost laughed at the way he glared at her.

She tried to walk past him but before she could his hand abruptly grabbed her upper arm and drew her closer to him. His hold was made of steel. It was not bruising but it was hard.

She lost her step and placed her hand to his chest in order to find her balance and not fall on him.

He remained silent and she gulped as his scent made her dizzy. She wanted to lean in. To touch those raspberry colored lips and feel his skin on hers. She waited for him to make a move but he didn't.

The connection between them grew as did the tension that was almost magnetic but he was standing still. His eyes were fixated on her.

He was waiting to hear more.

She tried to get her arm out of his grip but he didn't let go. He was not hurting her. But he was not letting go.

"They are ready to give me a new name, a new life," she taunted him knowing how she was pushing his limits now that his eyes glittered with madness.

She knew the rules. His rules. Like everyone else she was living by them.

No one would ever even dare to take anything from Klaus Mikaelson and nothing that belonged to him would ever dare to abandon him but she continued playing with fire as she stood up on her toes and let her face reach closer to his, "to take me somewhere where _you_ won't be able to ever find me," she whispered and flinched as his fingers dug inside the flesh of her arm before he let her go.

She stumbled back but his hand wrapped around her waist. Her body crashed on his and she put her hands on his shoulders.

"Such a place does not exist, love," he warned her and quiet menace laced his tone, "even if you run to the far ends of the world I will still find you. You are mine Caroline," he reminded her and stark possessiveness marked his gaze.

The heat that was seeping from his body ignited the need inside her and she felt tingles of pleasure spark on her lower belly.

"I know. That is why I didn't accept," she quietly told him sounding almost resigned and noticed how he smiled pleased and she gave him her own smile as she wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug expression away from his face, "no matter how tempting the offer was," she let the irony fall between them and saw with satisfaction how he pressed his lips.

He hoisted her body up with his hand still wrapped around her waist and she almost yelped as she felt her feet leaving the floor and instinctively she wrapped her legs around his waist.

She gave him a glare of indignation as she tried to support herself by holding him tighter.

"You like playing with fire don't you?" his voice was a soft whisper of temptation as his other hand pulled on her hair. She groaned and the flame in her eyes grew.

"I only learned from the best," she taunted with mirth enjoying how his eyes shone with pride. He walked towards her bed and she let her hands find their way to the nape of his neck enjoying how smooth his hair felt on her fingertips.

They fell on her bed and his body covered hers. He was careful not to crush her as he settled on top of her.

She squeezed him with her legs as she needed to feel him more. The weight of his body was welcome and his finger grazed the exposed skin of her neck before he pushed the one side of her robe to the side revealing her right shoulder and the top curve of her breast under the lace of her black revealing bra.

She tried to reach for his lips but he pulled his head back before he pushed her hands up above her head and pinned them on the mattress.

"Do not dare to betray me love. You would not like the consequences," he simply said. He didn't have to turn his tone to threating. He was simply stating a fact. Having her so vulnerable underneath him should be enough to intimidate her but she didn't seem to be bothering with his display of dominance and sexual aggression.

Caroline snorted and Klaus once more understood why he was so attracted to her. His infatuation still stood. He could not get her out of his system.

Even like this. Even right now that he had her under his body trembling with need she regarded him as an equal. She knew who he was and what he was capable of and yet she refused to fear him. Something that frustrated him but also made him respect her like he had never respected any other woman before.

She also knew the power she held over him and this weakness was driving him crazy. Almost as much as she did.

"As long as you keep me safe I won't have a reason to," Caroline retorted and Klaus let her hands go. He placed his palms flat on the mattress on either side of her head and looked intently at her defiant eyes.

"Ah yes. You always like to remind me of our little deal don't you?" he bitterly let out. Every time he was trying to get closer to her. Every time they had a disagreement. Every single time. And he hated it.

He looked down and arched his brow as she let her hands sneak between their bodies and started unbuttoning the rest buttons of his shirt.

"As you always like to remind me that I belong to you," she threw back at him with equal distaste and she hastily pulled his shirt out of his trousers before harshly pushing the material open and back on his shoulders.

His necklaces fell forward and dangled on the valley between her breasts. He had to pause for a moment in order to take in the beauty that Caroline Forbes was. A beauty capable of breaking him.

He had broken bones and lives and he was still incapable of understanding how it was possible for anyone to have tried to break _her_.

To break her body and her spirit. Maybe this was why she was resisting him with tooth and nail. But that didn't mean that he had to like it or that he would not try to change it.

"And you that you belong to no man. What kind of deal do we have to strike for you to give up on that irritating notion of yours?" he seductively challenged her as she almost tore away the shirt from his body.

His hands dragged her closer as he started undoing the belt of her robe. Sensually. Slowly.

He was undressing her as if he was unwrapping a gift.

His breath hitched at the ivory skin that was revealed as he opened her robe. Her black lacy underwear left nothing to imagination and he felt himself instantly becoming rock hard.

He leaned down and let his teeth graze the column of her neck. She arched her back so to give him more access to her body before her hands reached for his face. She cupped his cheeks and demanded his attention.

"What you are asking does not come with a price," she breathlessly said as his hand found its way to the inside of her leg. He trailed her inner thigh making her whole body tremble.

"I know. It is invaluable. Just like you," he acknowledged seeking her lips once more.

She gave in to the demanding kiss and she undid his belt with urgent moves.

"Our deal never said anything about…_love_," she panted between their kisses as his hands travelled on every curve of her body. She was getting lost in wild desire.

Klaus laughed as he tore her panties away from her body in a harsh move that made her bite her lip.

"_Love_?" his tone sounded amused will dripping with irony and distaste as he ripped her bra away too and changed their position so she would come on top and straddle him. Her robe was thrown away from her body that now pressed against his in all its naked glory.

He sat up and held her by the hips as she wrapped her legs around him sitting on his lap.

She moaned as he pulled her closer and let his hand find its way between her legs. Both of their naked bodies rocking together as he was building her need up with expert strokes.

"Love is a fickle emotion sweetheart," he admonished while nibbling her ear. She held on to him for dear life as she felt her orgasm coming closer.

"I do not crave your love. I want your mind. Your soul," he whispered and his other hand pushed her hair back from her face. He wanted to see her eyes. Her crimson cheeks. Her swollen lips. He gripped the back of her neck and brought her face closer to his. His eyes glistened with desire, hers with need. Perspiration ran between their bodies.

The moment he slid into her he moved agonizingly slow. Inch by inch. Taking in her every reaction. The way she heaved. The way her skin flushed. The way she gripped his shoulders and how she pushed her nails into his skin. How her eyes pleaded him to go faster as she tried to ride him but he rolled them over again trapping her body beneath his. He pushed inside her a little bit more ignoring her pleads to go faster.

"I want to get into that little head of yours and explore every single desire and secret you hide from me. I want you to give yourself to me without holding back," he tempted her with a hoarse voice as he was trying to control himself and ignore how strained his body was becoming at the sensation of her muscles clenching around him. She was so soft. So wet. So hot. All he wanted was to lose himself inside her until there would be nothing of them both left to this world.

"But until then I am quite satisfied with having you writhe underneath me in ecstasy moaning my name every night," he let his voice become melted honey that made the flames on her skin erupt into fire. He craved nothing more than to hear her scream his name. He needed her in his bloodstream like a drug and he needed to know that she needed him in the same way.

He started pushing strongly into her taking in every moan her lips spilled as she pushed back and forth in sync with him just as hard. Both of them were getting lost in delirium.

"Do you know why?" he growled as he surged forward making her scream his name. "Because every time I am inside of you our deal means nothing," he rasped unable to control himself any longer as he buried himself deep inside her, gliding in and out. Skin slapping on skin. Bodies entangled in one as she dragged her nails on his back and held on to him for dear life.

"Time stops and nothing else exists for you than me. Isn't it so my…_love_?" he let the word linger as she closed her eyes and gave herself completely to him as she screamed her release. He thrust harder into her. Faster and with no more control left as her body stilled gripping him and she looked into her eyes that looked at him with something he could not name before he grunted her name as he came undone.

* * *

Usually after exhausting themselves in each other's arms they would both relax in their mutual embrace basking on the afterglow that would follow every heated encounter. Moments of intimacy where she would finally relax as Klaus' fingertips would slowly draw patterns on her sweaty skin.

This time was different. The warmth was missing. Both of them were tense. Caroline was taking deep breaths as Klaus' steady heartbeat echoed on her ear now that her head was resting on his chest just above his heart. And yet that sound was not a humming lullaby now. It felt like the drums of war.

She hardly even blinked when Klaus rolled them over and he wrapped his hand around her neck. Her body was pinned against the mattress underneath his weight. Skin on skin and the friction caused shivers to erupt to her body as his fingers pressed around her neck in warning. He was not hurting her. But his grip was strong and unrelenting.

"What else have you forgotten to tell me love?" he asked her as his eyes scrutinized her. His rich voice brought her chills and she knew that this tone was one of calculation. He was using his intimidation tactics on her and how much more now that there were no barriers between them. At a point where anyone else would feel vulnerable and exposed. But she only rolled her eyes and exhaled angrily at his interrogation. Of course Klaus would not let go. When did Klaus let anything go?

She detached herself from his arms in frustration and he let her. She sat up and pulled on the sheet that pooled around Klaus' hips. She wrapped herself with it and glanced at Klaus that didn't seem to mind his nakedness at all.

"Leave him out if it Klaus," she warned him as she glared at him.

"Leave who out sweetheart?" he played with her and she gritted her teeth resisting the urge to slap his stupid face and the stupid dimples.

Instead she threw him her pillow which Klaus' caught it on air before it hit his face.

"You know I saw Matt," she bit out as she hastily got out of bed.

"Without Elijah present," Klaus added with a low voice as he sharply looked at her.

Caroline lifted her chin and looked at his eyes without wavering.

"Yes," she admitted with confidence that made Klaus' lips compress to a thin line. He got out of the bed pulling his pants on.

"_And?_"

His tone was conveying his usual paranoia and she huffed as she rearranged the sheet better under her arms.

A paranoid defensive Klaus was just one step away from her getting a persistent headache.

"He wanted me to agree to the witness protection program. I refused," she simply told him with a shrug.

"Is that _all_?" he pressured as he prowled over to her.

"The rest do not concern you."

Klaus titled his head to the side. She saw the change in his demeanor. The aggression that was slowly building up inside him. And yet she stood her ground.

It was not so much her instinctual need to face him as an equal as it was the fear of telling him that Matt wanted her to leave him no matter the cost. If Klaus knew that and if he had even the slightest suspicion that Matt could influence her against him or put ideas in her mind about leaving him he would retaliate and the outcome would not be pleasant for her friend.

Klaus was a menace and a force of nature when it came to keeping the things he wanted.

That kind of power was what made her ask his protection in the first place and she knew the consequences of dealing with a person like Klaus but she only wanted to use that power against Logan. Not against people she cared for.

She would not allow Klaus to hurt her friends.

However Klaus did not have any boundaries when it came to defending his right of ownership over what he believed to be his. The day she signed away her freedom in the exchange for her safety she knew all too well where she was getting herself in. Klaus never pretended to be anything else and he was always honest and straightforward when it came to what he expected from her and what he would do to if he would feel threatened or displeased to anything concerning their deal.

Klaus only cared for his family and for keeping her at his side by his rules. He considered everything else to be collateral damage and he was ready to make anyone an example in order to establish, maintain and impose his authority.

Caroline raised her gaze at his as he came close. His scent enveloped her and she felt feverish. She clenched her fists.

"You knew I would not like you talking alone with your _ex boyfriend_ and you did it anyway," he growled unable to hide the hint of jealousy from his voice.

Caroline looked at him with an incredulous expression.

"Matt is a friend!"

Klaus' features hardened.

"That's irrelevant. You knew I would not approve!"

Caroline crossed her arms in front of her chest as she blew away from her face a stray lock with an angry huff. Her expression now was as angry as was his.

"So what? Your deal got you a mistress not a slave Klaus!"

Klaus pressed his lips and took a threatening step towards her but Caroline narrowed her eyes in a challenging manner. She was provoking him and he wanted to lash out and destroy everything around them. Yet again this infuriating woman was bringing up their deal.

She always loved to reminded him how she was not his by choice. How it was the circumstances that led her to him and how what united them was not their connection but their…deal.

Klaus towered over her and the irrational part of himself took over. The one that always destroyed everything good he was trying to build. The part that wanted to hurt Caroline as much as she was hurting him with her words.

Klaus let out a mocking laugh that made Caroline flinch.

"Out deal yes," he pondered as his finger grazed the exposed curve of her breasts just above the sheet she had wrapped herself in. Caroline was following his movement with cautious eyes now and he felt the thrill that came at the uncertainty that filled her eyes.

"No objections on how well you fulfill the role of my mistress love," he spat with an ice cold tone that made Caroline take a sharp breath, "diligently and with vigor may I add. I certainly have no complaints at how eager you are. Job well done love," he taunted and the moment he saw the flash of hurt in her eyes he regretted his words immediately.

Caroline took a step back and his hand fell to his side. He sighed and tried to get closer to her but she looked at him with furious eyes.

"Well since I am so good at my…job…," she slowly said with distaste, "why don't you drop the rest of the dictatorship crap you have going on? They don't work on me. I am not one of your minions that run around ready to satisfy your every whim!" she fiercely yelled at him and Klaus titled his head and racked his hand through his hair as he saw the how her eyes sparkled with anger and pain.

He huffed and tried to reach her but she shook her head and took one more step back. She looked at him with so much distaste at that moment that it felt like a physical blow. She looked wild and untamed wrapped in the wrinkled sheet with her hair tussled and her gaze turned into a bitter glare.

Caroline was never afraid of him and she never looked at him like every other person did but in moments like these he could see the same level of hatred and rejection his own family directed at him.

But from Caroline….it hurt more. Much more.

He wanted her respect and he wanted her to be safe. Having the feds using her to get to him and her ex coming back to the picture made his blood boil. Elijah told him everything that transpired tonight and Caroline's stubbornness was fueling his anger.

He could see that she cared for this…Matt…and that made him see red.

His instinctual reaction was to hurt her and now he wanted to ask her to forgive him but he could not do that either. She had made him weak but he would not allow to himself to show her this weakness.

Caroline was standing her ground now. Her eyes were warning him to stay away. Her features had twisted into a scowl and she was looking as if she was about to murder him.

He pressed the bridge of his nose.

"Get out," Caroline let her breath out slowly and Klaus opened his mouth to say something but then he closed it.

He stared down at her.

"No," he simply said and saw how her shoulders tensed up.

"Why? You want me to fulfill …my duties again tonight? Sure I guess. It is in my job description after all" she sourly conceded and then looking as if every emotion was snuffed out of her she got near him and tried to kiss him but Klaus held her by her upper arms and pushed her back without letting her go.

"Caroline…I am-," he sighed and Caroline pushed his hands away.

"Oh my God! You can't even say it can you? Caroline I am sorry! This is how it goes!" she yelled at him and Klaus looked at her feeling restless and awkward.

"Sometimes I swear you are like really really slow!" she blurted out enraged.

Klaus could not help but smile at how cute she sounded as she tried to offend him and how she looked as if she wanted to claw his eyes out.

Caroline turned around to put some distance between them as if breathing the same air with him was unbearable but Klaus grabbed her by the arm and turned her back to him.

"Now sweetheart how can I acquit myself here?" he asked as he bent towards so that his lips would be against her ear.

Caroline huffed and detangled herself from his embrace.

"Sure Klaus. Put the charm on because that has worked so good with me in the past" she mumbled annoyed and looked at him up and down looking offended and disappointed.

She then pushed her finger to his chest and he looked down at it with both of his eyebrows lifting on his forehead.

"Newsflash! Your charming words are not going to gain you any points! You can't seduce your way out of this! Your temptation techniques do not work on me!" she let out the torrent of words all at once as her face lit up with fury and Klaus beamed at her.

"That is why I want you," he declared and Caroline hit him on the chest with her fist. Hard.

"Ouch," he playfully complained before he picked her up leading them both back to bed. Caroline cursed and struggled against him as he put her to the bed and kept her there no matter how much she tried to get up.

"You really are an ass! Let me go!" she yelled at him and he held her by the waist and pushed his body back to the bed and pulled her on top of him until she straddled him again.

"You drive me crazy you know that?" he whispered and cupped her face with is hands. He felt the fire that was starting to stir inside her again and he saw the wonderful blush that spread on her cheeks.

"You do not need me for that," she mumbled with a sullen expression and he laughed at that.

He tried to kiss her but she pulled her head back.

She looked directly into his eyes.

"Never again," she warned him and Klaus noticed how serious she looked and he nodded understanding what she meant. Lashing out to her like this was not something she would allow again and he would not risk losing her and especially not because of his ill-mannered temper.

"I promise," he sincerely told her and Caroline got off him and lied back to the bed next to him watching the ceiling with a blank expression.

Klaus turned to his side and pushed his elbow to the mattress as he rested his head to his hand. He watched Caroline closely. The way her chest heaved up and down.

It was not from desire. It was not from anger or disappointment either. It was something he never wanted to see in her eyes.

It was worry.

Caroline turned to the side and faced him with desperate eyes.

"Klaus," she whispered and the sound was so low that he would have missed it if his attention was not already fully on her.

He saw the fear in her eyes and he hated it. He didn't want her to be afraid. Of anything. Not even of him. She could frustrate him beyond belief and she would push him to his limits more often than not and he knew that he was prone to losing control but if there was one person in this world that was safe with him that was Caroline. She would always be safe with him.

She didn't know it yet but all she had to do was ask anything of him and he would do it. Whatever it was. As long as it would make her happy.

"Tell me sweetheart," he gently encouraged her as he pushed a stray blonde lock behind her ear.

"_He_ is free."

Klaus's gaze hardened as he pulled her to his arms. Caroline's body was rigid inside his arms as he hugged her and kept her close. She hid her face to his chest. The top of her head touching his chin. Her smell there to taunt him but her warmth was missing. It was rare for Caroline to express her worry and admit her fear. But she was reaching her breaking point with this waiting game.

"No one is going to touch a hair from your head Caroline; anyone that dares to try will have to get through me first," he promised her with a hoarse voice and kissed the top of her head. She snuggled closer to him and he wrapped his hands around her in an even more tight hold. She was secure in his arms. And he was going to make sure she was going to stay there. Forever.

"Besides him being free is a good thing," he said with a menace that he kept only for the kind of enemies that would pay for their crimes against him only with their blood and the blood of everyone they ever met and loved.

Caroline lifted her head up and her eyes widened as she looked at Klaus as if he had gone insane.

"Why?" she asked with a trembling voice. The dangerous glint his eyes making her shiver and bringing chills all over her body.

Klaus's lips turned into a smirk that reminded her exactly why people were so afraid of the man that was now holding her in his arms.

"No prison lies between me and him now love. It just became much easier for me to bring you his head."

_..._

_My lover's the sunlight  
To keep the Goddess on my side  
She demands a sacrifice_

* * *

**Song: Hozier - Take Me to Church**


	5. Gray Sky

**Songbird**

* * *

_**Summary:**_ She asked for his protection. He gave it to her. But with Klaus Mikaelson everything came with a price and into his web Caroline Forbes went. However that was only the beginning. Mafia!Klaroline AU/AH.

* * *

**Chapter V: ****Gray Sky  
**

* * *

_All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray_  
_I've been for a walk on a winter's day_  
_If I didn't go, I could leave today_

...

_**Detroit**_

_**December 2012**_

_….I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. California dreamin' on such a winter's day….On such a winter's day…._

_The sweet cadence of her voice slowly faded away as did the shining spotlight around her. Caroline finished her song under Klaus Mikaelson's scrutiny as she did for the past weeks ever since he had invited her to his table the first night he saw her singing. That same night she had rejected his advances and so she continued to do all the nights that followed. Despite his persistence and his charming words. Despite how he looked at her with admiration and lustful eyes._

_Caroline knew about danger now. She could feel it under her skin like an electric current and Klaus Mikaelson was carrying lightning and thunder in every sweet invitation and luring temptation. He was bad news. She knew it, he knew it. Hell everyone knew it._

_So Caroline stayed away. No matter how Klaus would come every night to hear her sing and then invite her to join him in his table._

_And tonight was no different. As she was about to get off the stage one of the club's guards came near her and leaned over to whisper to her ear that Klaus Mikaelson would like it very much is she was to join him for a drink in his table._

_Caroline rolled her eyes at Klaus' persistence but when she gazed at Klaus direction she almost faltered at the genuine anticipation he found in his eyes._

_Almost._

_._

_._

_Klaus narrowed his eyes as he saw Caroline turning away and walking towards the pianist and he sighed, feeling a wave of disappointment and irritation crash over him. He didn't need the guard to come and tell him that Caroline Forbes had rejected him once more._

_He had never met such a stubborn woman like Caroline before. Intimidation didn't work. Courting her was not working. Gifts were not doing anything. His infamous charm was not earning him any favors._

_The guard approached his table and stood awkwardly just a step away and cleared his throat clumsily._

_"Eh…she said…"_

_Klaus gritted his teeth at his guard's stalling._

_"Go on!" he ordered the man that seemed to be in an uncomfortable position._

_"She thanks you for your invitation …to join you for a drink…but.."_

_"But?" Klaus impatiently gestured to the man to continue feeing annoyed with the guard's incompetence. Maybe he should consider searching for more useful assistants that would not stutter like fist out of the water._

_"Ehm…She said she would rather die of thirst," Klaus' guard hurriedly repeated Caroline's rejection._

_Klaus' pressed his lips into a hardline and the guard seemed to pale considerably and then a throaty familiar laughter reached Klaus' ears and made his fingers itch to grab his gun even more. He seriously needed to kill something and soon!_

_Kol Mikaelson chuckled amused as he hopped on the velvet sofa behind the table and sat next to his brother._

_Klaus tried to control his anger as he watched Caroline disappearing behind the curtains that led to the backstage rooms and his brother's grating laughter was not helping._

_But before he could control his reaction he smiled at her defiance but also felt an inkling of genuine displeasure at how she walked away from him after rejecting him publicly and so blatantly. It was not just the superficial anger of being rejected or his ego talking. It was not even the result of his bad temper. It was a deeper cut and it was in that moment's realization that he decided that there would come a time where Caroline Forbes would only sing for him. Either it would be on her own accord or it would be him manipulating and pulling her strings the result would still be the same. He would have her._

_"Should I bring her to you Sir?" the guard offered making Klaus glare at him with a ferocity that made the man take a step back._

_"Leave," Klaus barked making his brother's laugh intensify. Something that turned Klaus' disposition more sour._

_Kol reached for the expensive bottle of scotch on the table waiting for Klaus to snap at him for stalling and for laughing at his misery. He smirked at the way his big brother was giving him his most vicious death glare. Would you look at that! That girl had really gotten under Nik's skin._

_"By the end of the week I want to know everything there is to know about Caroline Forbes," Kol sarcastically imitated Klaus voice from when Klaus ordered him to search about the singer's past and then he brought the rim of the bottle to his lips and drank a full gulp enjoying the heat that followed against the walls of his throat, "well one thing we know for sure is that she always looks good walking away from you," Kol mocked Klaus and he almost spat out the alcohol that danced in his tongue at the way his brother's angry stare change to one of genuine sorrow before shifting to an expression of daydreaming._

_"She is quite the challenge," Klaus fondly said with an impressed tone that made Kol lift up his eyebrows curious about his brother's behavior. What happened to 'love is a weakness'? Because Kol would bet his division in the family business that his brother's infatuation for the blonde bombshell was starting to turn into something much more dangerous._

_It didn't last long though. Klaus turned serious again and the gleam in his eyes and the sneer that followed amazed Kol even more. Klaus was reacting as if this was a matter of life and death for him and he usually acted that way only for business and only when the severity of the situation demanded from him to resolve to resolute actions. And right now he was acting like this for a …girl. One he hadn't even shagged yet if what Bekah told him was true; and judging by the way the lovely nightingale rejected him Rebekah's estimation seemed to be true and Kol would bet that Klaus had not managed to get the blonde to warm his sheets. Maybe this is what his brother needed in order to loosen up after all. A beautiful challenge after a hard day of killing. Although if it was him he would just keep the killing part._

_"It is the end of the week," Klaus remarked with a scowl feeling irked and barely able to control his temper and anticipation as he snatched the bottle from Kol's hand making his young brother pout childishly._

_Klaus knew that he couldn't personally deal with such a trivial investigation. If anyone found out he would be putting his reputation and Caroline's life in jeopardy. He would have however wished to have had in his disposal a better hunter to search Caroline's past than Kol but admittedly his younger brother was the best of the best and even more so he was part of his family and therefore one of the few people he could really trust with this. Surely Kol would be the first one to jump at the opportunity to corner him with such personal information but when push came to shove their always and forever oath that put their family above all was prevailing. If only Finn had been the same._

_Kol leaned back and snickered enjoying the power he was holding over the King of Chicago and he did not shy away from showing his extreme satisfaction over agitating Klaus._

_"You know…invading your darling's privacy like that is not the right way to begin an honest and sincere relationship based on respect and understanding," Kol sarcastically taunted Klaus that literally growled at him._

_"I swear if you don't start talking I will tear out your liver!"_

_Kol rolled his eyes and leaned back. Mirth dancing in his eyes._

_"Always so prone to violence. No wonder 'Lijah thinks I turned out so emotionally unstable! Just look at the dysfunctional example I had to look up to," Kol theatrically lamented and held up his hands in mock surrender when he saw Klaus' fists clench on top of the table, "okay okay relax brother. I did dig up a few things that might interest you. And by might I mean surely. But if you want me to spill you will give me the next shipment. And two months' worth of profit from the New Orleans distribution," Kol demanded seriously._

_"It's yours," Klaus quickly agreed without even bargaining and Kol looked at Klaus as if he had gone crazy but then he beamed satisfied before he took out of his jacket a small folder that contained the singer's personal information in a flash drive and handed it over to Klaus._

_"You little Songbird has quite the history brother," Kol nonchalantly said earning his brother's undivided attention._

_Later on when Caroline came back to the stage to sing again Klaus' eyes were glued on her form as Kol's words still echoed in his mind. Caroline's history and all the information his little brother had gathered about her for some reason were making his blood boil with rage._

_….I'd be safe and warm…All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray…_

_Oh such a winter's day…_

_He had been right. The cut was deep and it would definitely leave a scar. It already had._

* * *

**_..._**

**_Chicago_**

**_Today_**

Caroline made her way towards Klaus' private parlor with certain steps. She did not even bother to look at the guards that lurked around to every corridor or those that followed behind her silently like unseen shadows as she pushed the stained glass doors open with both of her hands entering inside the luxurious room without waiting to ask for permission. Klaus guards already knew not to get in her way. It was surprising at first and amusing afterwards to see all that muscle bow down to her with respect and even a hint of fear in their eyes. Everyone in Klaus' house knew better than to displease Caroline in any way.

Caroline sighed as she noticed that in the center of the room Klaus was training with a few of his men on rubber training mats. Three men were circling him and Klaus was smirking as he stood there shirtless and barefoot wearing nothing but his gym pants and his necklaces.

"Sweetheart, if you would give a moment," he called for her, his voice slightly mocking as he fended off the man that attacked him from behind and soon Klaus threw him on the floor with a sound that almost made Caroline flinch.

Instead of flinching however Caroline rolled her eyes and went towards the bar to pour herself a glass of orange juice admiring the sight of Klaus fighting. He was an expert not only in all sorts of weaponry but also in martial arts and to single combat. More often than not he relished in causing pain to his opponents even in training and most of his opponents would end up limping away with broken bones and open noses.

However this was still an impressive spectacle as Caroline stood back and enjoyed the way Klaus' muscles flexed and how the sweat ran down his lean body.

Caroline added some Vodka in her juice even though it was still morning and swallowed down a gulp while another man literally flew back in the air as Klaus swirled around and kicked him while the man was trying to choke him from behind. Caroline snorted when she saw how Klaus' last guard seemed to be unsure. He seemed to fear to attack his boss and looked with fearful eyes at the men that were grunting on the floor trying to unsuccessfully get up.

Caroline noticed that Klaus had picked up his last opponent's fear and she knew that he did not allow that sort of weakness amongst his men. She saw how Klaus' gaze darkened as his eyes focused on his guard's hesitance and Caroline grimaced.

"Well mate?" Klaus challenged the man with a dangerous smile and Caroline shook her head.

The man charged at Klaus and was rewarded with a punch in the ribs and a high knee jab on the stomach. The guard even though was all muscle doubled over coughing blood. He tried to put his hand up to call for surrender but Klaus grabbed his wrist and twisted it in a grotesque angle making the man cry out in pain.

Caroline exhaled loudly watching the scene with fascination and exasperation at the same moment.

"Try not to-"

She didn't even have the chance to finish her phrase when the sound of bone breaking reached her ears.

"Break any bones ..this time," she mumbled looking at Klaus with annoyance as he dropped the broken wrist he was holding with distain making the poor man in front of him groan in anguish and fall on the floor like a bag of bones.

Klaus laughed as he raised his eyes and met her admonishing gaze.

"Too late love," he teased and Caroline only furrowed her brow as one of the previous guards that had ended on the floor attacked Klaus from behind trying to use the element of surprise only to find himself on the floor again staring at the ceiling with pain holding at his shattered ribs.

"Pathetic! All of you out of my sight!" Klaus growled and the men scurried away in pain knowing all too well that they had to train much harder if they wanted Klaus to keep them in his guard. Otherwise they knew that the alternative was death since no one that came so close to Klaus' affairs ever got to disappoint him in any way and live to tell the story.

Klaus took a towel from a chair and wiped off the sweat from his face and hung it around his neck as he approached Caroline with a smile. His lips touched hers and she kissed him softly before pulling back and hitting his shoulder.

"You're all sweaty," she protested and Klaus laughed giving her a knowing look before he crushed his mouth on hers once more. She moaned and tried to withdraw her head back but Klaus wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her closer. Her chest grinded against his and she kissed him back.

"You did not seem to mind last night," he mumbled on her lips making her glare at him and push him away earning another chuckle from him. His dimples coning to full display and Caroline wondered how he could seem so boyish to her now after watching him beat his guards and break their bones only moments before.

Klaus narrowed his eyes and took the glass she had kept next to her on the bar's surface and tasted it.

"Too early for that love," he scolded and Caroline folded her hands in front of her chest defiantly.

"You are so not allowed to act like my dad Klaus!" she groused and he smirked smugly.

"I hardly doubt there would be anyone in this world to ever consider my intentions for you to be… paternal sweetheart," he playfully fired back making Caroline glare at him.

Klaus' eyes travelled slowly up and down her body enjoying the way her curves looked inside her gym pants and her sports bra.

Klaus extended his hand towards the floor mat and Caroline squinted her eyes at him.

"Will I count broken bones when we are done?" she challenged him and Klaus raised a brow at her direction.

"Have you ever before?" he questioned amused and she rolled her eyes at his attempt to pretend to be obtuse with her.

Klaus sobered up immediately however.

"I would never harm a hair on your head sweetheart. Surely you know that," he honestly confided with and Caroline chewed her lip feeling like a fish out of water. It was as if Klaus was two different people. The man that he was with her when they were alone and the nightmare everyone else viewed him whenever he stepped out of their private bubble.

"Everyone is afraid of you Klaus. And not just when it comes to training. Screw that. They are not afraid. They are terrified," she sighed as she started walking towards the gym flooring.

"As they should be," he said with a shrug following close behind her.

Caroline turned around and her eyes shone with defiance.

"You enjoy inspiring terror into others don't you?" she accused him with a slight hint of contempt in her tone. Something that made Klaus' previous affectionate tenderness disappear into thin air.

"It sends the right message," he admitted unemotionally as he dropped the towel to the floor.

"That does not mean you should enjoy it," Caroline whispered feeling unsure about why she was getting into this now. She glanced down but she did not miss how Klaus tensed at her accusation.

But truth was that this was a side of Klaus she did not know if she could live with. It was a thrilling side at times but still one she considered wrong. Logan liked to hurt people too. He liked to hurt her. Klaus never laid a hand on her and yes she did trust that he would not hurt her physically in any way but that didn't mean that what he was doing to so many others was right. She didn't need Matt and the feds to show her the pictures of the dead bodies and the tortured victims the Mikaelson family and more especially Klaus were leaving behind.

Klaus was leaving behind him nothing but cinders and ruin. He had no mercy for those he did not consider his. He had his own code of honor but that did not stop his reign of terror. He was bathing Chicago's underground belly in blood and he was not even stopping there.

She knew who Klaus was, he never hid his true identity from her; and this was why she asked his help in the first place but there were times that her consciousness was rioting against this world. Against his world.

Times when she remembered that once upon a time in a life that seemed so far away her mother had been the Sheriff and had been fighting against people like Klaus. Her mother that had raised her up with different morals and ideals. By simply standing by Klaus like this she was ending up feeling guilty for betraying her mother's memory and values; and there were times that this guilt was eating her up alive. It was as if she was trying to stand with one foot on two different boats. She was already drowning.

Klaus sauntered closer and pushed an errand strand away from her face. She felt a chill going through her spine at his heated gaze. He seemed to be reading her inner conflict so well and she did not want to get into a confrontation with him about something she knew he would not change. And yet she could not stop herself from somehow hoping to find common ground with him. She didn't want to change him but she wanted to make him understand how she felt about this and there were times that Klaus' walls were so high that she felt as if she was punching a wall and breaking her own bones and the wall was not even getting a dent on its surface.

"But then what kind of a monster would I be if I didn't enjoy what I do best sweetheart?" he drawled and Caroline gulped down. Klaus hands felt heavy on her waist as his fingers skimmed the bare skin over the top of her pants.

"And yet one can fend off a monster only by siding with stronger monsters," he reminded her and Caroline pursed her lips. This time the wall seemed to not only be breaking her bones but to also punch back. Great.

She grabbed his hands with her own and pushed them away from her waist hating the satisfied gleam she saw in Klaus's challenging eyes.

Both of them knew that no matter how much she seemed to condemn his murderous and abusive ways in the end of the day it was a side of him she needed if she wanted to survive. A side that somehow Klaus had already started to cultivate in her too. In varying degrees and progressively she had become numb and detached when it came to the pain of others. She always put her needs first and now the sight of blood and the sound of broken bones did not make her tremble and did not make her stomach turn. Because she had lived with her own bruised skin and her own broken bones once upon a time and that was something that she would never allow herself to experience again and if that meant exploiting that side of Klaus then so be it.

She took her hair tie out of her wrist and gathered her hair on the top of her head in a messy ponytail as she stepped on the gym flooring.

She spread her legs and found her balance remembering the fighting stance Klaus had taught her.

"Well are you going to just stand there?" she provoked him feeling the need to get out some steam and actually punch something in a sense that would not be just metaphorical and Klaus gave her a slow smile that turned into a deliberate smirk as he closed the space between them.

Soon his palm flew towards her face but she blocked his attack and then over and over again until both of them were moving around in circles facing each other and changing from offense to defense using different fighting techniques in fast movements that seemed more like a dance than actual fighting.

* * *

The moment the glass doors of the parlor opened Caroline's body tumbled back and with a grunt she found herself sprawled on the ground. She sighed as she tried to replay in her mind the way Klaus grabbed her hand and in a less than a second he turned her around and placed his legs behind her knees making her lose her balance.

She opened her eyes and glared at Klaus that was smirking while hovering above her. He had managed to cut off her fall a bit by controlling the force of his strike but nonetheless the frustration inside Caroline remained and was escorted with soreness in her back and a blush of embarrassment at the entrance of Elijah and Stefan. Just in time to see her ass get handed to her.

Klaus offered her his hand to help her get up and she pushed it away and got up on her own making him smirk widen.

Klaus ignored Stefan's and Elijah's presence and got closer to Caroline. He placed her palm over his wrist and with his other hand gripped her wrist firmly and showed her how to pivot her arm and how to make her turn around his own hand while keeping her firm hold.

"It is all in the wrist. And in the moment," he instructed and then pointed with his eyes at her legs, "handle your balance like I taught you. Ground yourself," he said and she immediately spread her legs a bit and bent her knees making sure to generate her power from her hips and the muscles of her thighs, "no second thoughts. Just instinct. Arm your heart and your strike will leave blood. But it won't be yours," Klaus whispered and she nodded and turned his hand into her own and used her weight to make him turn and to practically lift him from the ground. And it would have worked and he would have found himself in the floor if he was not fast enough and used another technique in order to pull her closer and release his hand before turning her around and pressing her back against his chest.

He kissed her shoulder playfully and released her. Caroline knew that if Elijah and Stefan were not present he would have let her throw him on the ground but he would not allow himself to show such weakness in front of others. And besides Caroline wanted to be able to defeat him fair and square and not have him oblige her by surrendering to her without fighting back.

Klaus and Elijah exchanged a look that betrayed their silent communication and Klaus checked his clock. Their training was not over and Klaus was always adamant and strict about the daily duration of her self-defense lessons.

Klaus gestured for Stefan to come closer and pointed a threating finger at him.

"No bruises" Klaus warned him and Caroline rolled her eyes at Klaus' intimidation towards Stefan and snorted when Stefan held his hands up in the air in surrender.

Stefan replaced Klaus at the rubber mat and worked with Caroline on some basic moves.

"Come on Care," Stefan encouraged her making Klaus glare at him before wearing his blouse and Stefan cleared his throat in fear as he instantly became more serious with Caroline.

"Miss Caroline. Balance," he instructed and Caroline glowered at Klaus that he simply gave her a wink in return before he joined his brother to the other side of the room.

* * *

Klaus and Elijah watched Caroline and Stefan train and it was Elijah that broke the silence.

"You pushed too hard Klaus," he admonished his brother and saw how Klaus' looked at Caroline. His lips had compressed into a straight line and he seemed as if he was ready to snap at any moment.

"Not hard enough," Klaus said through gritted teeth.

* * *

**_..._**

**_Detroit_**

**_December 2012_**

_Elijah placed the folder with the documents Klaus signed inside his suitcase and shook his head. Klaus was needed in Chicago and yet his brother insisted on staying in Detroit these days._

_As he stood up and got ready to leave Klaus leaned back in his chair and placed his hands over the desk. His demeanor emanating the air of royalty as usual._

_"There is one more thing," Klaus casually said with superiority coloring his voice and Elijah looked at him suspiciously. Klaus took out a tablet from his drawer and slid it on the desk towards Elijah._

_Elijah looked at Klaus before turning on the screen and opening the only file on the desktop. There were photos inside and more files with detailed data and with official documents and old newspaper articles. Elijah's eyes scanned the information and frowned._

_"Logan Fell. He is in prison. For attacking Miss Caroline Forbes," Elijah read out loud and he then made the connection in his mind, "Rebekah's singer," he realized and noticed how Klaus' jaw clenched._

_"I want to him to suffer. Make sure of that," Klaus ordered with an unyielding tone that made Elijah wonder why Klaus would act this way for one of Rebekah's employees._

_"You barely know the girl Niklaus," Elijah reminded him and almost gaped at the intensity he saw for a moment in his brother's eyes. Klaus never allowed to others to see what he was feeling and he never bothered with a woman for long. He would usually have fun with them and then would dispose them the next day. His brother always considered romantic attachments to be a weakness and he never indulged in those or allowed any of his siblings to do so; and now he was making this personal for a woman he barely knew._

_Elijah had heard the girl sing in Loup Rouge. She had a sweet voice and a beautiful face but she didn't belong to their world and yet his brother seemed to be drawn to her. According to Rebekah however Miss Forbes was not falling for Klaus' charm. Maybe this was what had made his brother act in this strange way._

_"I know," Klaus acknowledged the fact with an impassive expression but then the edge of his lips curved in a hint of a smile, "but she has quite the voice does she not?" Klaus mused with a smirk and Elijah shook his head holding back his smile. Well this was new._

* * *

Elijah gave to Klaus the last photos his men had managed to procure from private surveillance systems and traffic cameras. It was not an easy task to get those photos from the police and civilians and he had to use all his connections and his inside people but even like that he did not get these evidence in time. Which made Elijah extremely suspicious. Someone must have intervened before him and that someone knew the game all too well. Logan Fell would not have been able to cover his tracks without any external help especially with Klaus' hounds relentlessly going after him.

"His last trace was spotted in LA. Two months ago. He disappeared from the radar after that," Elijah informed Klaus and saw how Klaus' had to physically restrain himself from destroying the photos he was holding.

"You waited too long brother," Elijah said and did not back down when Klaus glared at him.

"Supposedly you wanted him to look behind his back and live in fear," Elijah reminded his brother and Klaus threw the photos at him and Elijah shook his head with disappointment at his brother's temper as he gathered the pictures before they fell to the floor.

"No need for pointing out the obvious. If you have anything to say just say it!" Klaus snapped agitated with a sharp gaze of full of undiluted anger.

Elijah narrowed his eyes and composed himself before confronting his brother. The feds had already contacted Caroline and with the current Fell unforeseen complication they had to be careful and yet his brother did not seem to act rationally to everything that concerned Caroline Forbes.

And on the other hand he had to admit that he himself had grown fond of the girl. He had searched her history and her past on his own when Klaus declared to them that she would be living with him and that she would be part of their lives. Caroline Forbes entered their family and he had to make sure he could trust her. Especially since her mother had been a Sheriff.

So he had searched her past and what he found made him realize that the girl was not simply a survivor but also a strong individual that carried a lot of baggage and pain. Something that of course his brother was probably relating with and also taking advantage of. But it was only when he got to speak with her in person and understand her better was when he realized that she was a woman he could admire and simply pity or feel sorry for.

A woman that had managed to make his brother's heart warm up again and for that at least he owed her his eternal gratitude. Unfortunately however some of his brother's actions were bothering him to say the least. And he could not help but worry.

"I can only wonder," Elijah started and Klaus raised an eyebrow gesturing for him to continue. His impatience always present.

"Maybe the reason you waited this long was because you knew that if you eliminated the threat Caroline would not need your protection any more. You would not have a hold on her," Elijah voiced his skepticism with no pretenses holding back his judgment. His face was a pensive mask that made Klaus snort in irony.

"You always think the best of me brother," Klaus mocked Elijah and the eldest Mikaelson looked at Klaus in solemn apprehension.

"Am I wrong?" he insisted with a hint of dismay in his not so subtle accusation.

Klaus gave his brother an indignant look. He tried to act as if this accusation amused him but Elijah could see the hurt and the rage under his brother's façade.

"I do not need a looming threat over Caroline's head in order to keep her by my side. Had I wanted she would have nowhere to hide from me even without Fell on the run. This is her choice and she knows it is for life," Klaus declared and did not even bother confronting the disappointment he saw reflecting in Elijah's eyes any further. It was not something he was not used to anyway. Ever since he destroyed Mikael and Esther Elijah faced him with resentment despite the fact that he had sided with him. Elijah Mikaelson the honorable brother that always doubted him even though his hypocrisy could not be hidden in Klaus' eyes. Everyone looked at him in the same way. His siblings, his associates, those that bowed in his presence, the whole bloody world. With the same revulsion and fear underneath their faux civility. They all considered him to be an abomination that would strike at what they held most dear and none of those he kept close ever thought of thanking him for keeping them safe and allowing them to have the kind of power that others could only dream of.

Everyone saw him either as evil incarnate or damaged. Everyone except Caroline.

Only Caroline didn't react in that way in his presence even though she had seen the monster that lied beneath the surface. Despite her inner struggle for siding along with his demons she always faced him with dignity and as an equal and it was refreshing to see her now cowering in front of him; she was always fearless and strong and her light was shining every time she was being blunt and honest with him without having second thoughts of stabbing him in the back. Klaus respect that. He respected her and he wanted her.

"Caroline will remain by my side," Klaus fiercely said and Elijah slightly shook his head and opened his mouth to object but Klaus raised his hand effectively dismissing him.

"However Caroline's place in my life is not your concern and we have more pressing matters," he disregarded any attempt from Elijah to play his therapist and give him relationship advice.

Klaus stared at Elijah and voiced his dire thoughts.

"Whoever helped Logan escape has been covering for him ever since. Someone is protecting him. Someone that knows how to deflect our men. Someone that-"

"Knows us," Elijah finished for him and then he placed his hand on Klaus' shoulder.

"This matter is a family issue now but it is Caroline that's in danger and you won't be able to help her if you keep acting irrationally brother. Vengeance can wait. If the girl means so much for you then protect her. Put her first," Elijah urged him but Klaus said nothing.

When Elijah left Klaus turned around and noticed how Caroline laughed at the way she managed to deflect Stefan's attack. He could not help but be in awe at the way her laughter was always contagious and managed to light up the whole room and everything that was around her.

The only thing he knew for sure was that he could not lose her.

* * *

Caroline moaned as the Klaus' thumbs slowly and rhythmically rotated around her wet skin massaging her shoulders. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to enjoy the sensation. He had just rinsed the shampoo from her hair and his gentle caress was now melting her skin making her feel comfortable and at ease. She rested her back against his chest, rising her leg a bit feeling the hot soapy water ripple around her knee as it emerged from the water. His fingers slowly stroked her neck and then massaged her scalp threading her drenched hair. She could smell the essential oils they had used in the water that was filling the bathtub and covered their intertwined bodies. The bubble bath was already soothing her tense muscles and her tired body that now soaked under the foam and the warm scented water.

She sighed and felt Klaus lips gently caressing her cheek.

"What is in your mind sweetheart?"

"Nothing," she mumbled and bit her lip knowing that it was pointless to try to hide from Klaus. Especially when they were so close.

"Lying to me is a mistake," Klaus told her. It was not a threat or even a warning. It was a statement and Caroline slid her body against his and turned around. She rested her chin on his chest and refused to look up and meet his eyes as her palms gliding up and down the muscles of his arms. Her eyes focused on the tattoo on his chest.

"Do you think he is here? Logan," she asked in a barely audible voice.

She could not explain it but lately she felt something that could only be described like a sixth sense of detecting danger. And it was coming closer.

"I hope so," Klaus told her after a short moment of silence and Caroline blinked before titling her head up. His eyes were already fixated on her and she looked at him as if he was crazy.

Klaus held her closer and the water splashed around their naked bodies.

"I told you before sweetheart. Let him come," he simply said and Caroline felt her heart beating faster at the darkness that lingered inside his eyes.

"I will give you his head on a silver platter if you ask me to," he promised and she felt his wet fingers drawing patterns on her back. Slowly. Sensually. And all that while he planned to murder a man for her sake. If anything he was redefining romance for her.

"I don't want that," she mumbled looking at him seriously.

Klaus' hands stilled and he reciprocated her serious stare.

"What do you want?" he asked genuinely intrigued for what she would have to tell him.

Caroline shrugged and dove her hand into the water letting some of it flow from her fingers down to Klaus skin that was not emerged inside the suds. Being so intimate with him was what she seemed to crave the most lately. At first it was as if the allure of danger he carried in him was drawing her closer but after getting to know him better she had realized that she was falling for him.

So what did she want? Many things she could never get but for now she decided to play it safe and tell him the truth that would not hurt.

"For me to be safe," she admitted and Klaus grabbed her from her upper arms lifting her body up and pressing it against his own more. Her face was now inches away from his. Drops of water were falling from her hair down to her back as she looked straight into his eyes.

"You are. What else do you want?" he challenged her, his voice more hot than the temperature of the water.

Caroline swallowed harshly and felt the heat rising.

"You can always be honest with me Caroline. It's just me," he told her and rested his forehead against hers. His eyes urging her to be honest with him. To confess to him her darkest deepest desire.

Pain flashed through her eyes and then determination.

"I want him to suffer. To truly suffer," she confided realizing how much she wanted Logan to suffer. She had been around Klaus for so long. She had seen his power. She had felt it. She could not simply stand idle in the sidelines anymore and be content with being the collateral damage.

She had seen Klaus cause pain to others. She had seen the blood in his hands and the tears in his enemies' eyes and she wanted this for herself too. To turn her enemies to nothing but a memory of their suffering. For them to beg for her mercy and for her to smile with their misery; and as far as she was concerned she only had one enemy. And she wanted to make him suffer. She wanted it as much as she wanted oxygen.

Klaus smirked and pressed his lips against hers. Caroline inhaled his breath inside her lungs. She felt as if she was taking in shadow and smoke. It was turning her heart black.

"He will," Klaus vowed with a dangerous smirk and Caroline nodded at him before she lied on top of him and rested her head against his chest. His chin was touching the top of her head as she focused on the steady sound of his heartbeat. She was in the embrace of a monster, that much she knew, but she could not help but wonder if Klaus was not the only monster in that embrace.

"I am afraid that been close to you is turning me into something different. Darker," she said and felt Klaus' gentle kiss on her wet hair.

"The brightest light can shine only inside darkness sweetheart," he simply said and she closed her eyes allowing his tender caress to lull her to safety. Dreaming of the day where his promises would come true.

* * *

Kol Mikaelson buttoned his black coat as he stepped down the air stairs of his family's private jet.

He looked up at the clouds that floated on the sky and covered the sun and he smirked. He had not missed Chicago but it would be fun to hunt in Klaus' domain once more.

...

_I stopped into a church I passed along the way_  
_Well I got down on my knees and I pretended to pray_  
_You know the preacher liked the cold, he knows I'm gonna stay_

* * *

**Song: Sia - "California Dreamin"**

* * *

**A/N:** Many thanks to anyone that nominated my story for the Klaroline Awards. I am honored that you like the story so much as to nominate it for any category. Thank you. And of course I am grateful to anyone that is still reading and reviewing.


	6. Be Terrified It's you I Love

**Author's note: **Thank you very much for nominating and then voting this story in the poll for the Klaroline awards. It gained the award for** Best Crime/Mystery/Thriller Fiction**. Thank you for reading and liking this story so much.**  
**

* * *

**Songbird**

* * *

_**Summary:**_ She asked for his protection. He gave it to her. But with Klaus Mikaelson everything came with a price and into his web Caroline Forbes went. However that was only the beginning. Mafia!Klaroline AU/AH.

* * *

**Chapter VI: Be terrified. It's you I love.**

* * *

_**Added warnings for this chapter:** _

_References of abuse. Domestic abuse and domestic violence. Depression and mental illness. Loss. Grief.  
_

* * *

_..._

_I do not want to be afraid  
I do not want to die inside just to breathe in  
I'm tired of feeling so numb_

_But the only anesthetic that makes me feel anything kills inside_

…

_**Detroit**_

_**February 2013**_

_She walked down the road when the sound of a familiar accent reached her ears._

"_Caroline wait!"_

_She closed her eyes and heard tires screeching on the pavement and turned around to see Klaus running after her and almost getting hit by a car in the process. The men of his security watching him from the other side of the road with wide eyes._

"_Seriously can't you take a hint?" she protested tiredly. This has been a long night and she had a headache and this man would just not give up! He was relentlessly stubborn. Always trying to get into her good graces as his old fashion vocabulary would say whenever he was trying to woo her. He was trying everything. Asking her out, asking her for a drink, giving her flowers and even diamonds. He was crazy and smart and funny and his dimples and accent were wearing her down but she would never admit that. She was smarter than that. She had to be._

"_Just give up already," she groused._

"_On you love? Not ever," Klaus jested even though something told her that he actually meant it._

"_What do you want Klaus?" she asked as she wrapped herself more into her coat. The midnight air already messing her hair._

_Klaus sauntered closer and reached out for her. Caroline narrowed her eyes confused taking a step back noticing that he was actually trying to give her…her phone._

"_You forgot your phone in the bar," Klaus said, his hand stretched out offering her phone back._

"_Did I?" she suspiciously wondered out loud taking the phone from his hand and trying to ignore how his fingers momentarily brushed against hers._

_Klaus' wolfish grin made her tilt her head up and examine his features carefully in the night. His roguish charm more pronounced under the moonlight._

"_Thank you," she softly said and Klaus nodded. _

"_See you again tomorrow night love," he told her with a smile and Caroline chewed on her bottom lip. They were standing close and for some reason her body was not obeying her brain's orders. Her legs were not moving and she was not leaving. _

_She nodded at him and when Klaus let his finger push a thread of hair from her face she shivered and pulled back._

"_Good night sweetheart," he whispered and Caroline gripped her phone tighter. _

"_You just don't give up don't you?" she blurted out and Klaus smirked at her bluntness._

"_Never. Not from the things that matter," he simply said not pretending to not understand what she was talking about._

_Caroline raised her eyes to meet his and saw the intensity in those blue orbs and it made her knees go all weak and her breath hitch inside her chest._

"_Sooner or later you will give me a chance," Klaus told in a matter of fact tone and Caroline raised a challenging eyebrow at him._

"_So what? You are trying to tire me out?" she laughed knowing all too well that she should not poke the monster._

"_Is it working?" he flirted with her and Caroline tried to swallow back her smile feeling the edge of her lips trembling. She shook her head and Klaus gave her his most boyish smile making her feel as the blood inside her had just melted and warmed up her skin against the coldness of the night. She had not felt like that for so long. She had not flirted, she had not used her playful side, she had not allowed herself to show her carefree side; and she was doing that right now with a mafia boss that was relentless when it came to flirting with her. She was treading into dangerous waters and yet the only word she could use to describe what she was feeling right now when it came to Klaus Mikaelson was…gravitational._

"_I think it is sweetheart," he beamed taking a step forward invading her personal space and then giving her a challenging gaze daring her to move back. That kind of game, that kind of pull and push was making her restless and unable to resist. She didn't want to let him win. He was not intimidating her but he was provoking her and she was never one to back down first._

"_Arrogant much?' she sarcastically fired back and saw how Klaus' chest rose up with a hint of laughter. The amusement in his eyes glimmering in the night._

"_No. It is not a matter of arrogance," he confessed as he hovered over her. The fragrance of his cologne burning through the air making her inhale him in. "It's understanding your opponent."_

_Caroline gave him an incredulous look._

"_We are at war then?" she questioned and Klaus' smirk turned dangerous. So dangerous that created heat between them. It vibrated in the air._

_Thoughts like 'Ah Caroline Forbes where did you get yourself into?' blurred in the sweet dizziness that engulfed her. And all she could think was that she should have run before it would be too late. Why was she not running? _

"_Where all is fair," Klaus played with the words of the known idiom making Caroline cross her hands in front of her chest._

"_And what is it that you understand about me then?" she pushed back knowing all too well that this was not clever. She should just walk away. Why wasn't she? Why was this danger making her feel… safe?_

"_You, just like me, love a good challenge love," Klaus declared and Caroline felt a charge of electricity invading her bloodstream. _

_She took a step forward and noticed how Klaus dipped his head down to reach closer to her. His eyes fixated on her lips for a moment before returning to her eyes._

"_You don't know me," she told him with a steady tone. _

"_Then give me a chance to get to know you Caroline," he whispered longingly and Caroline felt her weight lift on her toes. She swayed on her heels feeling her whole body being propelled forward completely out of her control. All she had to do was throw the match to the gasoline and she would lose herself. To the unknown. To the challenge. To all she feared and all that she had missed for so long. All that was so close to her reach now. She saw those raspberry lips and she realized how much she had missed the taste of a kiss. The tasted of lips pressed against her own and the seductive whisper of a kiss._

"_Your hopes, your dreams, everything you want in life," Klaus words were laced with such an alluring note of enticement that felt like a touch as intimate as a lover's caress. _

"_Give me a chance Caroline. I dare you." _

_Klaus did not move to touch her. He did not try to initiate this but he was already burning her. She was burning._

_But she had been burned before._

_She stepped back abruptly feeling the violence of her memories dissolve any desire and saw how Klaus' eyes darkened when he saw her rise he walls up once more. She looked at him and understood in that gaze of his that should she take him upon his challenge there would be no coming back from that._

_Her hands were trembling and she felt an ache in her heart at the disappointment she saw in his eyes._

"_Thank you for bringing my phone," she hoarsely mumbled avoiding drowning more into that ocean of need they had created between them._

_Klaus' demeanor quickly changed and he bowed slightly at her. It was frustrating how fast he could compose himself again. _

_And yet the challenge was still there. In her grasp. Tempting her._

"_Good night," she whispered and felt shivers going up and down her spine at the way he smiled at her. A gentle smile. An understanding one._

_She turned around to leave and took two steps forward feeling his eyes boring holes into her back._

_She abruptly stopped and turned her head to the side a little. _

"_Just so you know, I am too smart to be seduced by you," she said knowing all too well that he was still standing close watching her walk away from him._

_She heard his throaty chuckle and just as she started to walk away his voice made her halt once more._

"_Well that's why I like you."_

_Caroline shook her head and left not daring to look back no matter how much she wanted it to. It would hours later that she would realize that Klaus had saved his number into her contacts._

* * *

**...**

**Chicago **

**Today**

Caroline was standing behind the bar registering in her personal notepad the club's clientele that would attend the celebration the Mikaelsons would host in Loup Noir. She wrote down her personal notes for every 'guest' mentally preparing herself for Klaus' birthday party. Every time all the Mikaelsons gathered in Chicago things always turned tense and dangerous. She would have to be careful around Klaus' allies and potential enemies and to keep up the image of the King's demure and naïve mistress while also gathering intel by using that same image to her advantage. A skill that was quite useful really.

Klaus never allowed anyone he did not trust into his house so these gatherings still took place in Klaus' domain but on neutral ground; always however only at places that established Klaus' power. The last years this place was Loup Noir. The security in the club especially ever since she started singing here was high and the club itself was now known for being sacred ground. A sanctuary of sorts. One of the few places in Chicago where all hostilities would cease upon entering the gates. Caroline herself had established that rule.

Now however she had to make sure that everything would have to be perfect for the big night and even though Klaus had people working on the details she was there to supervise everything.

Before coming to Chicago and starting her relationship with Klaus it was usually Rebekah that would arrive a few weeks earlier to take control of everything and prepare the party but Caroline was not having any of that. She loved hosting parties after all and preparing events like these and Rebekah had her own territory to command. This one was hers.

Not many people knew it but Klaus has given her Loup Noir as a gift. He had even signed the deed in her name. She was not just singing but she was also running the club and she had managed to make it a much more profitable business than it used to be and by doing that she actually paid Klaus back for giving her the ownership of Loup Noir. Originally this place was inspired by Rebekah's Loup Rouge but Caroline changed it from a shady mafia hangout to one of the most glamorous clubs in the city that also hosted special events and had its own private restaurant and even a scene for musicals and concerts.

The underground dealings of course kept happening but Klaus had managed to keep them under wraps and to be more discreet.

However the doors of Loup Noir always closed and opened only for a few special guests whenever all the Mikaelson siblings joined Klaus in Chicago. Something that happened only twice a year. On Klaus' birthday and on the anniversary of Mikael's and Esther's deaths. Both events turning into joyous glamorous festivities that could last even for days. Those were also the only two days in a year where Klaus would grand favors freely. Usually using even those as leverage against other enemies or even the people that asked him those favors. Fear and gratitude. Leverage and collateral damage.

Caroline looked at her notes smiling as she recalled that Klaus also had his own notepad. He had even promised her to allow her to shuffle through his personal notes in the future.

Caroline bit her lip and highlighted with a marker a few names and she pondered to which list she should place one of the daughters of the Italian mob that would escort one of Klaus' advisors; she had to make sure that everyone would be seated in the right order because she did not want any bloodshed or brawl to happened because adversaries would end up sitting on the same table. She knew that no one would dare push Klaus' limits and break his rules especially in his birthday but still she had to be careful and to make sure that people would actually have a good time.

She was absorbed in her thoughts when she heard a cracking sound and looked up. Her eyes grew wide and her expression turned from pensive to horrified.

"No no no! The string lights need to swirl down on the corners and not hang like that!" she shouted to one of the guards that held the thin cable with the lights in his hand trying to stretch it over the hooks between the ripple of the curtains. And he was doing it all wrong!

The man looked at her awkwardly for a moment before bowing his head down and trying to follow her directions.

Caroline then huffed and snapped her fingers angrily making the rest of the guards look at her with fear. Which would be a funny sight since they were really tall buff men carrying knives and guns and yet they were cowering in front of her presence.

"And seriously! Who had the idea to put the ice sculpture base next to the heating systems?" she yelled with an exasperating expression and the men looked at each other silently and guiltily before running around to move the base when she glowered at them.

Caroline shook her head disappointed and then pinched the bridge of her noise when she heard a familiar sarcastic voice coming closer and closer escorted by the clanking sound of heels against the carpet.

"My brother has given you everything I see," Rebekah snide comment came as usual as the blonde female Klaus -as some of the guards would call Rebekah Mikaelson- put her Chanel purse on the bar and looked at Caroline with her usual gaze of disdain and superiority.

Caroline plastered a forced yet natural looking smile on her lips before turning around to see Rebekah checking out her red nails looking bored.

"You think so?" she asked her sweetly and Rebekah arrogantly hummed in disapproval as she looked around with sharp eyes and Caroline knew that once more she would find everything to be lacking.

"If only it yielded results instead of mediocrity," Rebekah sneered and eventually turned around again to look at Caroline that did not even bothered replying at her rudeness.

Instead Caroline gestured for the guards to stop looking and spying at them and to keep on with their work. Rebekah grimaced at their meek behavior before shaking her head.

"I never understood what he saw in you," Rebekah bluntly groused as her eyes scrutinized Caroline up and down not bothering to hide her dislike.

Caroline smirked knowing how much Klaus' sister hated the way she had managed to gain her brother's favor. They had always been in shaky ground ever since she had tried to threaten her into Klaus' arms and Klaus had retaliated but ever since that day Rebekah realized that Klaus actually cared for her and that resulted to her instant hate. Rebekah's animosity and dislike turned to a competition and to clashing feelings of hate and genuine aversion.

Caroline never knew what Klaus had said or done to Rebekah the night she had tried to demote her from a singer to a call girl but all Caroline knew was that after that night Rebekah Mikaelson always looked at her with rage beneath her manners of faux civility. At first this had scared her but Caroline was never one to back down from a challenge. And she came to understand that neither was Rebekah. And Caroline might not be the Queen of Chicago but the Mikaelson Princess has managed to find an opponent she could not scare away and Caroline always found that amusing much to Rebekah's dismay. As so did Klaus.

"Maybe he saw a challenge," Caroline responded with a knowing look and then shrugged playfully enjoying getting under Rebekah's skin.

* * *

_**...**_

_**Detroit**_

_**January 2013**_

_Caroline blinked looking appalled. For a moment she was unsure as to if she had heard Rebekah right. It was as if her brain refused to cooperate but then she felt anger bursting into her._

_Rebekah Mikaelson had just ordered her not only to go and get a drink with her brother but to also stop 'playing' hard to get and go and spend the night with Klaus or as she candidly said to go and be her brother's strumpet for as many nights he would want her before she would bore him to death._

_Caroline gulped down and looked at Klaus that had his back turned on her and was having a drink at the bar with another man and then she looked at Rebekah with heated cheeks while trying to keep her calm. The club was packed tonight and Caroline did not want to draw any attention but this was just ludicrous and beyond offensive. _

"_I am a singer not an escort!" she hissed at Rebekah that had the audacity to look at her with eyes full of pity and mockery._

"_What you are, is about to be unemployed," she simply said and Caroline gritted her teeth._

"_So be it," Caroline bit out through clenched teeth and tried to walk away only to feel Rebekah's nails sink into the skin of her arm. Caroline looked at Rebekah's hand with open wide eyes before looking at her soon to be former employer's eyes that now shone with fury._

"_This was not a request," Rebekah declared looking down at Caroline with a glare, "you will go and get a drink with Nik and then do what he wants," she ordered and Caroline looked at her as if Rebekah had gone crazy._

"_Seriously!" Caroline protested trying to yank her hand away and then she saw two of Rebekah's guards taking a step forward pushing their coats to the side showing their guns. Caroline stilled and her breath hitched; Rebekah pushed her and she stumbled back. _

_Rebekah Mikaelson took an intimidating step forward and a sense of foreboding washed over Caroline. She then noticed that the guards came even closer looking at her in a menacing way that turned her stomach to a knot. She knew for whom she was working for but she had never imagined this. She had heard the stories about Rebekah Mikaelson's legendary mean streak and stories of the vengeful side of the Mikaelson sister. Some people called her the Mikaelson princess of Chicago and others the Queen of Detroit but Caroline never paid much attention to these rumors because she didn't have to. So far Rebekah had been professional with her. If anything it was Rebekah that never allowed any of her clients to be rude or to sexually harass any of the girls that worked in Loup Rouge._

_That was of course until now._

_Ever since Klaus Mikaelson had shown his interest towards her Rebekah's attitude changed. She became more demanding and condescending and the once upon a time strictly professional working place had turned quite suffocating._

_Rebekah Mikaelson now looked at her with an enraged expression._

"_Who do you think you are? You know who he is and you think you can keep on making a fool out of him in public every night? I thought you were smarter than that," she grit out with a patronizing smile._

_Caroline looked at Rebekah and then at the guards that came closer and stood some steps away looking at her with dark eyes._

"_Is this a threat?" she whispered trying to hide her fear even though her voice momentarily trembled._

"_Of course not," Rebekah denied but the devilish smile that appeared on her lips was telling another story._

_Before Caroline could retort back Rebekah turned around and walked away but one of her guards came closer and leaned down to whisper in her ear._

"_Do as Miss Mikaelson commands. It would be a pity to find yourself in a ditch all of the sudden puddin," the man threatened her before harshly pushing her towards Klaus' direction. Caroline looked back at the guards that looked at her with hard expressions and she felt her body going numb. This was so surreal and yet terrifying._

_Caroline felt as if she was going to scream. She felt as if the air was vacuumed away and there was no more oxygen for her to breathe. That feeling of helplessness she had felt with Logan returned with a vengeance. The same feeling of weakness she had sworn to herself to never feel again. That feeling of being a pawn for others and being too small to resist or even fight back. _

_She looked at the bar and saw how Klaus was laughing at something his friend was saying to him. They were having drinks and he looked so casual as if nothing was wrong and as if he hadn't put his sister on this._

_She huffed and marched on to Klaus. She was seeing red. Who the hell did the Mikaelsons think they were? She had done nothing to feed Klaus weird obsession with her and she was not a thing to be passed on to the highest bidder. She was not going to be manipulated or forced into anything. She was not going to become Klaus' whore just because he could not take no for an answer. She already had her share of abuse and terror and she would be damned if she would allow anyone else to terrorize her again and mess with her life._

_Klaus saw Caroline striding at him and his lips turned into a genuine smile that vanished when he saw the anger that lingered in her stance._

_Caroline finally approached him vibrating with rage and Klaus frowned. _

"_Hello love," he carefully said but with a welcoming voice. Caroline however paid no attention to his greeting. Instead she leaned over at the bar and gestured for the bartender to come and get her order. Klaus seemed confused and the man he was talking too seemed intrigued but didn't comment at all._

"_Hey Gary. Bring me a glass of champagne please," she asked in a sweet tone. An overly saccharine tone that made Klaus sober up immediately and look at Caroline all puzzled._

_She tapped her nails on the polished surface of the bar as she waited for her order._

"_Is everything okay Caroline?" Klaus questioned in a concerned voice that made Caroline press her lips. She didn't dignify him with an answer. She didn't even look at him._

"_Caroline?" Klaus insisted and she grimaced in annoyance._

"_Everything is…perfect," she bit out and Klaus seemed more confused than ever by the way she was acting. Caroline turned her head to the left and saw the other man that was sitting opposite to Klaus._

"_Hey I am Caroline," she introduced herself with a dazzling smile ignoring Klaus completely._

"_Stefan Salvatore," the man replied smiling back at her and then giving a shrug at Klaus that had tensed behind Caroline._

"_Nice to meet you Stefan," Caroline beamed and gave her hand to Stefan for a handshake. Klaus seethed behind her and Stefan had to cough in order to hide his uneasiness and…amusement._

"_You are Rebekah's singer right?" Stefan politely asked putting some distance between himself and the blonde when he noticed how Klaus glared at him._

"_Don't really know about that," Caroline bitterly said and Klaus blinked at that but before he could ask her what she meant Gary brought the tall glass of champagne Caroline had ordered and she smiled at the barman and then pointed at Klaus in a casual way._

"_It's on him," she sarcastically said and Klaus for the first time ever since they met looked startled and out of his element. _

_Caroline took the flute of champagne and whirled around to stand up against Klaus. She considered throwing at his face the contents of her glass but instead she gave him a glare full of indignation before she apathetically clinked her glass with the glass of his scotch on the bar and then without taking her eyes away from his she gulped down the bubbly liquid in one go making her eyes burn and shine as the champagne tingled down her throat spreading the sweet dizziness in her bloodstream. She looked at Rebekah's guard that watched her from afar and she felt as if she had not just drunk champagne but acid. _

_She then pushed the empty glass to Klaus chest aggressively and he caught it numbly; his eyes did not miss hers even for a moment as he first followed her gaze towards Rebekah's guards and then looked at her again. He stared at her dumbfounded with questioning eyes and in any other case it would be comical to see Klaus like that, all speechless and shocked, but right now Caroline was too angry to even notice._

"_There! Happy now! I hope you are pleased because this is the only thing you will get from me!" she snapped at him and strode away furiously. _

"_Sweetheart wait a minute," Klaus called as he ran after her but she didn't turn around. Klaus knew people were watching but he did not care._

_Caroline walked even faster going towards the back corridor that led to the private bathrooms and the storages. She felt her eyes burning. She was so angry with herself most of all. She hated feeling weak. She hated having people push her around. _

_Before she could take another step Klaus practically jumped in front of her and she almost fell on him._

"_Why won't you just leave me alone?" she shouted at him desperately and Klaus' eyes travelled up and down her shaking form with what seemed to be a mix of worry and concern and for some reason that made Caroline even more furious._

"_What happened Caroline?" he seriously asked and she huffed and tried to walk away from him but he was not allowing it. _

"_I am not for sale you asshole and you are not going to get into my pants by threatening me!" she yelled at him all aghast and Klaus looked at her as if she had gone crazy. She pushed her finger against his chest and Klaus astonished eyes followed her aggressive gesture before going back at her face. No one has ever dared to act that way in his presence. Everyone was too scared and cowered in front of him except this hurricane of a woman that he did not know if she was overly brave or just crazy._

"_That does not work with me!" Caroline yelled furiously and pushed her finger more aggressively into his chest repeatedly," So you can take your stupid threats and your guns for hire and shove them in-"_

_Before she could even finish her rant Klaus had pushed inside the first room he saw next to them and closed the door behind them. He had gotten her inside a dark dusty storage room. The place they were storing the scotch bottles._

_Caroline pushed him back with her hands ready to kick him and scream._

"_Let me go! I swear to God I'll-"_

_Klaus turned on the lights of the small room and took a step away raising his hands on the air in a reassuring gesture trying to show her that he was not going to hurt her. But he could not let her treat him like this in front of everyone either and they had to talk in private. _

_Caroline heaved and blew at the curly hair that had fallen over her face and Klaus looked pleadingly at her._

"_Calm down Caroline!" he gently prompted and Caroline stomped her foot down._

"_I am calm! I am perfectly calm!" she screeched looking all livid and Klaus raised his eyebrow as she crossed her hands over her chest while continuing to glower at him._

"_Let me out of here!" she demanded and Klaus nodded._

"_I will. Once you tell me who has threatened you," he resolutely told her. There was steel in his voice and somehow that made her anger dissipate a bit. His tone threw her off. There was an eerie calmness in him that was more threatening than any outburst of anger._

"_As if you don't know," she spat with disgust and Klaus studied her with a piercing gaze and Caroline saw for the first time in him the dangerous gleam everyone seemed to be afraid of. The fear she had felt a few moments before in Rebekah's presence was nothing compared to this. It was as if spiders started crawling against her skin._

"_I don't," Klaus growled, "but I promise you that anyone that dared something like this will never dare do it again," he said with a menace that took away her breath, "you have my word," he vouched and Caroline felt unsure and confused. _

_Klaus approached her and looked at her intently._

"_Who was it Caroline?" he quietly asked again but it was the fervor in his question that made Caroline gulp down her erratic breath. He looked sincere and angry. _

_More angry than she had ever seen him before._

_Caroline pressed her lips, her hands turning into fists as she averted her eyes from his and looked down at the floor._

"_Bekah," Klaus realized and cursed under his teeth as all the pieces connected in his mind. He remembered seeing Rebekah talking to Caroline before she came at him all raging and angry. And then Caroline glanced at Rebekah's guards with fear. It all made sense. _

"_I am so sorry sweetheart," he sincerely apologized, "my sister is overzealous when it comes to my…happiness," he said and Caroline looked at him as if he was crazy._

"_Happiness? Seriously?" she blurted out giving him her most disbelieving look that made Klaus smile tenderly at her. _

_Klaus took a step forward and Caroline narrowed her eyes. _

"_You don't have to worry about my sister. I will deal with Rebekah. I promise you," he gave her his word and then his smile turned more affectionate. Caroline was stunned and glanced up at his face. _

_They were really close and the anger she had felt was quickly replaced by another feeling she did not want. It was electrifying and she felt another kind of helplessness now. She was falling for him. He was making her fall for him with his stupid reassurances and his care and his even more stupid dimples and lovesick gazes. He was a mobster and his sister had just threatened to throw her in a ditch if she would not sleep with him and surely Klaus was just as dangerous as Rebekah was. Hell he was more. So why was he not like that with her? Why was he screwing with her mind like this? And why was she letting him?_

_She shook her head and huffed in frustration. The anger returned. She wanted to punch him and make him reveal his true character. This could not be real. She should know better right now._

"_Don't! Don't do that! You can quit with the whole gentleman act! I don't buy it Klaus!" she yelled at him feeling her eyes burning. Klaus looked offended._

"_Have I ever forced you into anything? Have I made you feel threatened or made any inappropriate move towards you?" he demanded and Caroline stared up at him feeling her heart beating faster and faster._

"_No," she reluctantly admitted, "I mean…I-"_

_Caroline bit her lip feeling uncertain and on edge. Klaus gazed at her for a long moment before he nodded and took a step back. He opened the door of the storage surprising Caroline and he stepped to the side allowing her to walk away. Caroline did not move._

"_You have nothing to fear. I will deal with Rebekah," he promised her and Caroline saw the sincerity in his words. She slowly walked towards the door but without knowing why she stopped in front of Klaus. She did not move. She stood there not daring to look up at him. He was standing inches away from her holding the door open for her. He leaned down and inhaled her scent as she took a deep breath looking at the empty corridor outside the room. One step away and she would put distance between them and yet her legs were not obeying her. _

"_You are safe with me Caroline," Klaus whispered to her ear, "I only want you to give me a chance. To get to know me better. But only when you are ready," he told her in a low voice that made her shiver. She closed her eyes and felt his fingers skim the line of her jaw. He gently turned her face to him and cupped her cheek. Her eyes snapped open at the intimate gesture and without even understanding it she leaned into his touch pressing her cheek against his palm. _

"_You will always be safe with me," he promised and she saw no lies hiding behind his words; and for some totally insane reason that made absolutely no sense …she believed him._

* * *

"Whatever it is you should know by now that you can't walk away and if you hurt my brother I will end you!" Rebekah threatened Caroline without bothering to hide the menace and distaste from her voice. However Rebekah was taken aback by the way Caroline's face lit up at her threat. She didn't look scared. If anything she looked as if she was enjoying this.

Caroline smiled and turned her attention solely to Rebekah. She stared at her for a few moments knowing that it would make her feel really uncomfortable. Something Klaus had taught her. Eye contact was always important and it could determine the outcome of a confrontation and many times appearances were more dangerous and effective than knives and guns. And according to Klaus this was where Caroline actually excelled. She was not just a peoples' person. Her communication skills and her body language could be both alluring and intimidating. It took a lot of effort from her part but the instant fear she used to express to any incoming threat was long gone. In its place determination and conviction thrived in waves. Fearlessness and boldness had become Caroline's best armor; one that Klaus himself had taught her how to use in the right way. When she had first gone to him she already had that armor on but there were dents and cracks and open spaces in it. Klaus Mikaelson had made her realize that should she want it her armor could become impenetrable and eventually Caroline decided that this what was she really wanted. Not just Klaus' protection but his tutelage too. And she had become a great student. One that could now survive in his world.

Klaus had surely given the same lessons to Rebekah and Rebekah had grown into those lessons from the first day she was born but Caroline was a natural.

Rebekah Mikaelson was born into the blood and the carnage and turned herself into a Mikaelson. She was not just born into the name. She also claimed it. But Caroline did not want to be one of them. She wanted to be treated as an equal. She didn't want blood in her hands in order to prove herself to be worthy. Caroline knew that there was more in her than just that. But that did not mean she would back down from a challenge. She did not have to draw blood in order to win. There were other ways and in those Caroline excelled.

And Rebekah would have to understand that too and along with it her place also because Caroline was not going to allow her or anyone else to step over her again. Never again.

Caroline kept her indomitable gaze locked with Rebekah's and it was only when Rebekah glare faltered and she pressed her lips to a thin line that Caroline allowed her eyes to relish in her victory.

She then looked at Rebekah with a satisfied smirk.

"The time you could threaten me is long gone Rebekah. Please try to remember that," Caroline nonchalantly dismissed Klaus's sister with a mockery she knew Rebekah would absolutely loathe. Caroline made it so that her tone would also carry a sweetness that would hide tones of challenge underneath the surface.

Eventually she held back her laugh when Rebekah's cheeks inflamed with a fury she did not dare to express. Not in front of anyone that could report back to Klaus and not in a way that would make her seem as if she was losing control. Caroline looked as the infamous Mikaelson sister furiously turned around all angry and indignant and left without saying anything else.

Caroline simpered but turned around abruptly at the sound of clapping.

Kol Mikaelson was standing some feet away watching the whole scene with an expression full of glee. He had got in the club from the back entrance.

"Nice one darling!" he applaud as he came closer and hopped on a bar stool, "I haven't seen my trollop of a sister lose it like that since high school when she was not crowned the prom Queen. And you really don't want to know what happened to the poor girl that got the crown," he mocked as he reached for a bottle of scotch.

Caroline rolled her eyes refusing to be intimidating by another one of the Mikaelson siblings today. If anything their behavior patterns made it clear they were related.

"Don't mind Bekah," Kol reassured Caroline as he gulped down the alcohol from the rim of the bottle, "She just hates not being the center of attention," Kol dismissed and Caroline gave him a sarcastic 'no kidding' look.

"Oh so she took after you?" she pointed out sardonically and Kol's eyes widen comically.

"You wound me!" he complained childishly and Caroline laughed.

"I am sure you'll survive!" she jested still laughing and Kol shuddered as he looked at the way Rebekah had went and then back at Caroline will a doubtful look that made Caroline laugh more.

At first she had not liked Kol at all. His crude jokes and his childishness were something she did not appreciated and she disliked him even more when she found out that he was the one that had given a full report to Klaus about her past. However after a while she learned to tolerate him and even enjoy his spats with Rebekah and the way he could make Elijah cringe. Most of the time she had to make sure that Klaus would not attack his younger brother though since Kol relished in pushing Klaus' buttons.

"Rebekah might not see it but I do," Kol suddenly said and Caroline furrowed when she noticed that this was one of the rare times when Kol had a serious look on his face.

"See what?" she asked confused and Kol smirked.

"What Klaus sees in you," he pointed out and Caroline pointed a warning finger at him.

"If this is going to be one of your weird innuendos-"

"He cares for you," Kol cut her off and Caroline was taken aback by his momentary serious disposition. She saw that Kol was not joking at all and he was not backing down so she straightened her back and look straight into his eyes.

"I know," she softy and yet resolutely admitted and Kol nodded.

"And what will you do about it?" he asked her solemnly and for the first time Caroline saw Elijah and Klaus in him. Kol was stern and serious and expected an honest answer. He had turned into the protective sibling out of nowhere and Caroline knew that she could not mess around with this. Kol was the most volatile and violent of the three Mikaelson brothers. He even surpassed Klaus because Klaus had a temper but he was not extremely sadistic or sociopathic.

"I don't know," Caroline whispered holding her breath in. She did not bother acting as if she had not understood what Kol was asking. But truth was that this was the only answer she could give. She did not know. She did not know how to be with Klaus with no borders between them. She did not know how to care with him without walls and without holding back. She did not know what kind of commitment she could freely give to him. Klaus had her loyalty and her presence in his life. But she did not know if she could give him her heart and Klaus would not settle for anything less than that. That much she knew.

Kol's gaze was intense as he inspected her. His eyes delving deep into her fears. Something that made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

Kol then hummed as if he had gotten the answer he truly wanted.

"You better find out," he advised her and Caroline saw that underneath all the juvenile behavior there was a man hidden. A man that despite his young age had seen a lot and lived a lot. "You can't have it both ways. Either you are in or out. There is no middle ground in this family darling," Kol simply said and Caroline swallowed down hard. He was right and they both knew it.

"Also you have a sharp tongue you probably put in a good use and you look good in skirts and heels which I am sure that plays its part too," he crudely blurted out in his usual annoying fashion breaking their moment of understanding and making Caroline glare at him.

However she knew better than to provoke Kol and have more of his endless insolent jabs directed at her so instead she shook her head irked and as she was about to change the subject her eyes popped open as she noticed what two of Klaus' guards were doing.

Caroline huffed annoyed and looked as if she was going to be the one that would commit murder now.

"That goes higher!" she yelled with an ear piercing voice at the guards that kept trying to pin the lights on the curtains in the wrong way over and over again; Kol immediately closed his eyes and grimaced at the blonde's loud high pitched shrill that seemed to scare Klaus' guards that rushed to obey her commands like headless chickens.

Caroline then gave Kol a threatening glare that prevented him from making any further comment and from putting the bottle on the surface of the bar without using a coaster underneath.

All in all maybe he should take his chances with Rebekah's wrath instead.

* * *

"_**I'm foul mouthed now, foul tongued, yellow fanged. There are bullet tears in my eyes.  
I know you'll go, betray me, stray from home. So better by for me if you were stone." **__[1]_

Caroline quietly read from the pages of the thin book she was holding and then Klaus voice wrapped around her like mist and smoke.

"_**Are you terrified? Be terrified. It's you… I love,**_**"** _[2]_ Klaus drawled the words of Medusa and Caroline felt a shudder pass through her and send tingles of electricity into her heart. It was the kind of words that it was safe be to read and spelled from paper but not said spontaneously. The dangerous words she was afraid to hear and he was afraid to call them out loud.

None the less Caroline smiled and felt a warmth that made her relax. She knew that Klaus did not appreciate relatively modern poetry and yet he always read the things that moved her and memorized them. Many times reciting passages by heart for her to hear ever since she had admitted that she loved his voice. Maybe it was the accent or the husk his vocal chords brought to life but the mystery and the soothing velvet his mouth sang or whispered was a lullaby to her ears.

Caroline smiled when she noticed the small smile in Klaus lips while he did not even look up from the paper in his hands. He was sitting on his couch and sketching silently. Waiting for the right moment to show off obviously. Something that many times irritated Caroline even though it was kind of sexy too. They had been in his private study for the past three hours. She was lying on her stomach on top of the velvet pillows on the floor wrapped up in nothing but his shirt, swinging her feet back and forth while steading herself on her elbows reading from the book in front of her.

The flames from the fireplace next to her were casting their light and shadows on her sprawled body while the scratching sound of the pencil sliding over paper was accompanying the cracking melody of the fire. A soothing sound that was actually one of the few things that made Caroline ease up no matter how tired she was.

When she had first found out that Klaus could draw she had been surprised. She didn't expect a man like him that carried guns on his belt and blood on his hands to be able to create something that spoke to the soul. Something that was an instrument of peace instead of war and yet it was an effortless part of him as much as his violence was. A contradiction. A getaway to all the emotions he could not express and yet was able to channel into shapes and colors and drawings.

And he was good. He was really good. The first time he had showed her his work she had been impressed and even more so when she had seen the awkward blush in his cheeks as he was anxious to see her reaction over his art; but it was the first time he gave her a drawing with her face centered on the paper that she realized how much she could learn to care for him.

Out of all his gifts and compliments and everything he had given her it was these silent moments and the drawings that she cherished the most.

Caroline hummed and returned her attention to the poems and shuffled the pages a bit when Klaus' interrupted her thoughts.

"Has Rebekah bothered you again?" he asked as he put down his sketchbook and pencil. Caroline knew that his guards had probably reported Rebekah's arrival at the club and their brief meeting and Klaus knew of the rivalry that existed between her and Rebekah.

Caroline gave him a careless shrug and hid back her smile when Klaus approached her and sat next to her. His fingers threading her hair smoothly.

"Caroline," he pressed for an answer but instead Caroline laughed and hoisted herself up on her elbows. She stretched and gave him a gentle peck on her lips as she disregarded her book. Klaus' lips were soft before his kiss turned more demanding and Caroline pulled back much to his dismay giving him a challenging smile and his shoulders shook with laughter before he started tingling her making her laugh loudly and falling back to the cushions on the floor, her hair spilling over the velvet.

She wrapped her fingers on his necklaces and pulled him closer until he lied next to her.

"She cares for you," Caroline simply said and Klaus rolled his eyes.

"She is a bloody menace," Klaus grumbled and Caroline laughed more before giving him a sweet smile.

"She is trying to protect you… in her own way. I wish I had that," she muttered. Her eyes losing some of their laughter.

Klaus titled his head to the side, his brow furrowing.

"You do," he assured her and Caroline's smile turned melancholic.

She heard Kol's voice in her mind.

"_You can't have it both ways. Either you are in or out. There is no middle ground."_

Caroline's skin turned cold and she realized that she had to stop standing on the middle ground. Not so much for Klaus and his world but for her own sake. She could tell that Logan was coming closer. It was an instinct she had cultivated a long time ago. She could feel his presence and she knew that Klaus would protect her no matter what and even though this had been part of their deal she also knew that he would protect her because he also cared for her. More than he was allowing her to see. If anything for that alone she owed him the truth and her honesty.

She sat up and looked at him with sad eyes.

"I mean…you know…the kind of love only family can give you," she said feeling an emptiness inside she hated. An emptiness that reminded her of how alone and unknown she had been ever since her mother had died. It was a darkness she hated.

"I never had siblings but my mom used to love me like that," Caroline softly said and looked into the fire, "she was ready to shoot anyone that would hurt me really. And mind you she was serious with her guns," she laughed and pushed some of her unruly hair behind her ear.

"I wouldn't know," Klaus mumbled, "my parents would prefer to shoot me really," he sarcastically jeered but Caroline could see the pain under his thin veiled mockery.

"But not Rebekah, or Kol, or Elijah," Caroline reminded him and Klaus sat next to her, his shoulders losing some of their tension slightly.

"No. Not them," he said and Caroline nodded as she turned to face the flames in the fireplace once more.

"I miss her. I miss her so much it hurts," she confessed with tears in her eyes. Klaus said nothing but caressed her hair. She knew that he was there to listen and that was enough.

"Me and my mom…we didn't get along so much. I was in my rebellious phase and she was a workaholic but having to be a single mom to a teenager that seemed to hate everything she was could not have been easy," Caroline mumbled feeling her neck constrict with pain.

"My mom was serious and all about duty," she told Klaus as the memories of a life that seemed to be so far away came rushing back. She hated remembering those times. She hated having to remember the horrible things and so she had even exiled the good memories along with the bad.

"I was…well I was a kiddie pool," she bitterly said.

"That's hard to believe sweetheart, Klaus argued with a smile and Caroline shook her head. She took his palm in her hands and fidgeted with his fingers searching for a connection. To hold on from something.

"I blamed her for my dad leaving us. I mean he was gay and she was mostly interested in climbing up the ranks in the police force and I was more attached with my dad and he just left. It hurt so much and I had no one to blame but me and my mom," she said with a grimace.

"Not him?" Klaus asked and Caroline didn't dare to look him in the eye. She knew she had been unfair with her mom. She had been so unfair. Now she knew better. Now she was more mature and she could understand her mistakes and her mom was not there. She could not apologize anymore. It was too late. Her mom was not perfect but neither was she. Her mom that was the only one that really loved her unconditionally and Caroline hadn't even had the chance to tell her how sorry she was. How much she had regret being such a bitch to her.

"No not him. Somehow in my mind he was never at fault. I had to grow up to realize that he and mom both were to blame and both were not. I mean you can't force someone to love you and be with you and they used to fight so much before they broke up," Caroline whispered with a broken voice as the memories of her parents fighting came back, "but then my dad moved out and left me behind. I was not his first choice and he barely even cared after that except for the holidays and the child support he was sending my mom. A part of me believed back then that I was not good enough and that if I had been the perfect girl like my friend Elena was then maybe my dad would care more. Maybe he would come back. But he didn't and it was easier to put the blame on my mom than myself or him. It became a constant," she groaned and let go of Klaus's hand. She felt cold sweat forming on her forehead.

"And then he died. Car accident," she whispered feeling a knot forming in her throat and breaking her voice.

"And I hated him so much for that," she cried, "For leaving me, for dying on me. For not being there. For not having a second chance to be there," she harshly revealed, still feeling the hate and the anger she had once felt and she could tell that those were emotions that Klaus knew all too well. His eyes were on her now. She could feel him next to her but he did not make any attempt to initiate any physical contact because he knew that it would hurt. She was ready to bolt away at any moment and it was his silent acknowledgment and support that encouraged her to continue. She had never opened up to Klaus like this before.

She knew he had investigated her life and that he knew some of the facts but she had kept her truth inside. Maybe Kol's words were the obvious cause that prompted this confession but it was that fire that was burning inside her that was the real reason she was opening up like this. She needed more than just protection and sex and even companionship from Klaus. She needed to feel that she was not alone. That there was someone that could understand her and be there for her. She was suffocating by holding everything in and she had been struggling for so long. She needed a respite from the constant pain. From the constant denial. She wanted this nightmare to finally end. Hiding behind Klaus' security and tall walls was not enough. Not anymore.

"And then I stopped being the girl that wanted to only have fun with the cute boys. I wanted to prove that I could be more than that. But my mom didn't take me seriously and who can blame her? I was after all girly little Caroline that all she wanted was to get drunk and have fun," she grumbled and then her nails slowly embedded into the flesh of her palms. Her hands turned to fists and she looked into the fire that seemed to grow more with every breath she was taking.

"And then enter Logan," she said with a cold voice and did not see how Klaus' eyes darkened more than hers, "I never actually fell in love with him. But at that time he seemed sweet and …safe," she laughed at her own stupidity.

She took a deep breath and continued. There was no stopping now.

"I was interested in journalism back then. And he was the best in Mystic Falls. So I started asking his help for my papers and for getting to know the field better. And he was kind and nice with me. Back then that was enough me. A kind word. Even if it was fake. He seemed to really listen to me and to be interested to what I had to say. He made me laugh and everyone liked him," she said and shook her head with a sour taste in her mouth. If only she could turn back time and slap her stupid naïve younger self. Not that it would probably do much good. She had been so young. So lost. Truth is that she had to lose herself completely in order to find the strength to search who she really was and who she really wanted to be. And still she became something else. Something she could have never predicted or even wanted and her naivety was long gone.

"And maybe if my mom saw him believing in me then she would see that I was not kidding about taking journalism seriously," she voiced her past insecurities. Knowing that they probably sounded so shallow now.

"When she got sick I kind of lost it I guess. I was there for her and we finally got along but it was so surreal. I had detached myself from the pain I think. I did everything right but it was as if I was on auto pilot. And we said our goodbyes and they were heartfelt and honest and she died," she said with no emotion in her voice.

"And I was all alone. Everyone had died on me. I had no more family left. No one to ever care for me. An orphan," she uttered chocking down a sob.

"And Logan took advantage of that," Klaus understood. He knew how it was to take advantage of people's weaknesses. It was obvious to him. It had been for his whole life. But that was not something Caroline could have seen coming back them. They had grown up so differently after all. No matter her dysfunctional family Caroline had a relatively normal upbringing. She was not trained for war. She was not taught to not trust people. And that had cost her dearly.

"Yeah," Caroline spat out scathingly, "I…I got so stressed that after the funeral I didn't sleep for days and I broke down. You know how I am all neurotic and a control freak right? So I acted as if nothing bad had happened and there was a committee I was in charge of for a fundraising and Matt and Elena told me not to go and to get some rest instead but I went anyway and I snapped. I screamed at people and laughed and I was like all psychotic on crack," she scoffed and chewed her bottom lip awkwardly.

"People called an ambulance and they got me to the hospital. There they gave me some benzos and I slept for two days straight and I was fine after that. But everyone acted as if I was made of glass. A fragile broken doll," she stammered half joking half lamenting.

She felt Klaus' eyes caressing her form. But she focused on the sight of fire. Those memories still made her feel so raw. As if she was opened up and bleeding from the inside out. Rotting and breaking.

A tear fell from her eye and she quickly swept it away with the back of her hand. Feeling angry for her weakness. She wanted to be detached. To not allow to the memories to hurt and scar her more than they already had but it was impossible. Sometimes she felt as if those things happened to another woman and then there were the other times. Times like these. Where she felt as if she was reliving everything and the pain was lashing out on her again.

"I got kind of depressed after that," she sighed, "I didn't feel like doing anything. I could barely take a shower. I used to be so pumped with energy and I always liked going out but being in my mom's house all alone and having to deal with all the responsibilities of adulthood…it became too much," she confided and then chuckled. A foreign sound so harsh as she remembered how Logan had stepped in.

"Logan helped me through it. Or so I believed," she snarled and gritted her teeth, "he took me into his home. He took care of everything. He helped me sell mom's house and got me to a friend of his for some sessions. A therapist. And soon enough before I even knew it myself we slipped into a routine and we kind of became a couple. It was weird at first. He was older than me. Hell he used to babysit for me when I was ten. But I guess I felt safe and it was easy to get lost into something that for the first time did not make me ache."

Caroline took a deep breath and winced when she felt a dribble of blood slip from her palm. She had scratched herself with her nails. More scars for her to carry.

"But then things changed." Klaus simply said. A rhetorical observation. Something he could have seen coming even if he didn't know her story.

Caroline bit the inside of her cheek and nodded.

"Gradually," she said swallowing down a heated breath that made her lungs burn. It was as if the room had no more oxygen left. She brought her bare knees underneath her chin and hugged her legs. She hated feeling so helpless. But the memories were assaulting her with so much force that she was left hovering between pain and breathlessness.

"He always used the excuse of caring for my health and of not wanting me to get overly stressed," she quoted Logan's old excuses that seemed to be comforting once upon a time. Now even the remembrance was making her physically ill.

Caroline shrugged and hugged herself tighter starting rocking back and forth a bit trapped inside old nightmares.

"So he was deciding stuff for me. Small stuff at first. Like how it would be best if we were to stay at home instead of going out to the movies. How it would be better if we would not go out and meet people. Or that I should trust him the most and not my friends. How I should not duel to my friends' problems because they would make me sad and would stress me out and that I didn't need that so I should distance myself from them. How it was just me and him against the world. How the only safe space for me was our 'love' and him. Then it was what I should eat. Or drink. Or wear. It became suffocating and eventually he started yelling at me for the simplest things," she cringed chocking back tears.

"I should have known back then but he was the one that had stood by me and it felt as if he loved me so much and that this was his way of showing it. Being over protective you know," her voice quivering and she shook unable to hold back the shivers that racked her body.

She then bit back a sob and Klaus felt an itch in his hand. One that demanded a kill.

"The first night he hit me it was because he was stressed with work and he had a little more to drink. He said he loved me and he apologized a thousand times afterwards. He became really sweet for the next two weeks. And caring," she sniffed and then clenched her eyes shut. Her fingers bruised her upper arms as she gripped her skin violently.

"And then it happened again and he pushed me down the stairs. I fainted and I walk up in a private clinic. In a psychiatric clinic. His sister helped and covered for him and suddenly I was the crazy lunatic that harmed herself and was a danger for herself and others," she whispered and the horror returned.

She remembered the drugs. The nausea. The terror. The pills. Everything that was a blur and every image that was crystal clear. All coming at once. The pain from the fall. From the punches. The restraints. The lack of trust from those that she loved. No one had helped her.

"I tried reaching out more than once but people believed that I was a nutcase. The floozy that turned into a crazy madwoman making up stories," she croaked and tried to calm down.

"Logan was the golden child of the community. He belonged to one of the most prestigious and wealthy founding families of Mystic Falls. And I was…well not perfect no matter how much I was trying to be," she said with a sad tone. She had been abused and people had blamed her for it. They had not even believed her and scolded her for trying to harm the innocent Logan Fell that only loved her and only wanted to take care of her. She remembered how people looked at her as if she was insane and how they were always supporting her poor and gracious boyfriend. It was if she was screaming to a void. And the void swallowed her whole.

"I tried to run but it never ended well. I was afraid to leave Mystic Falls back then. I was still really young. I had nowhere else to go. It was fear and stupidity I guess. I was a coward. And part of me still believed that maybe it was my fault. If I only did what he wanted then maybe everything would work out. And then the slaps turned to punches and kicks and I lost the will to even scream. More bruises and broken bones. A concussion here and there. A bleeding nose. He was getting me admitted to the private clinic his sister worked more often. At first with my name and always claiming that I had a breakdown. His friends backed him up and so did his sister. Their stories always matched. Logan had the support and the money to cover up everything. He made sure to get the official statements and to turn me into one more certified case for the mentally ill but then he knew that this would eventually draw suspicions as the wounds kept pilling up. Eventually he started admitting me secretly and with a different name," she said as she reiterated her story with no emotion in her voice.

"It became a vicious cycle," she said and for a moment she dwelled on the bitterness. Then her gaze turned hard.

"And then he started talking about marriage and children and that was it… I decided I could not take it anymore. It would be either my freedom or I would die trying," she harshly spat.

She then threw her head back and looked at Klaus that was now wearing a murderous expression. She had seen that look before. People always died when Klaus eyes changed their color from their bright color to this darker bleak shade.

"Funny how back then I never thought of ending his life. It was always mine at stake even in my dreams of escape," she realized and now knew that this was not the case anymore. She was going to hold on to Klaus promise. She was out for blood now. She wanted heads to roll and she wanted revenge. Not just justice. Not just protection. She wanted her abuser to suffer and break. She wanted Logan to die. To die screaming.

She pivoted around on the cushions and faced Klaus. Her gaze locked with his. Unyielding. Unforgiving. The iron that blended with the shed tears was not one Klaus could miss. It was forged from pain and it turned to steel. And Caroline had steeled herself with it. She was reborn from her ashes and she was stronger than ever.

"You have searched my past," she stated the fact and Klaus nodded, "you know that Logan lost control and people called the cops," she smiled and there was the faint tint of irony that made Klaus raise an eyebrow.

"It didn't exactly happen that way," Caroline told him without taking her eyes away from his.

Klaus moved closer and his gaze turned curious.

"What really happened?"

Caroline's smile was not the usual bearer of light. It now held darkness.

"Logan was not letting me use phones unless he was present," she revealed, "No internet either. But I convinced Matt to get me a phone and a camera in secret. He didn't believe me at first but I made him swear to our old friendship. And the fact that my mom was a Sheriff and he was now working in her department helped. I had way too many scars by then and Matt probably felt guilty for not being closer to me in my time of need. So he sneaked those in the house without Logan noticing," she hummed and Klaus started connecting the pieces.

"When Logan came that night I fixed him a drink and then another. He was always more violent when he was having more to drink," she snorted and even though Klaus seethed he could not help but feel intrigued by her behavior. Deadly. Manipulative. Dangerous and desperate. It reminded him of him but Caroline never harmed others. Instead she only harmed herself and that was their difference.

"Then instead of calling the Mystic Falls' police department I called 112. They had to send the call to the authorities. It was official and they wouldn't be able to discard it as usual. Then I called Matt and let the phone open," she divulged and wet her lips with her tongue. She had tasted her blood that night but it was worth it.

"It was all or nothing," she came clean and Klaus understood.

"You provoked him," he observed and remembered the endless times he had gone into fights he could not win. Fights that left him half dead. Elijah always stepping in to save him from his own self.

"I did."

Two words that slipped effortlessly from Caroline's lips.

"I told him that I was sorry for throwing away his notes for the piece he was writing but hell it was a shitty article so I probably did him a favor ," she laughed as her story was funny and not tragic, "he became furious of course. He would miss his deadline after all and then he started yelling and I yelled back and threw stuff at him. She remembered how satisfying that had felt. Back then she had minimal fighting skills and she could not inflict the damage she could now. Klaus and Stefan had made sure that she would be able to defend herself now.

"It didn't take much. He went crazy and this time I pushed back as much as I could. I yelled and cursed and kicked him and told him I was leaving," she remembered how she had screamed at Logan and how he went ballistic not knowing how everything was being recorded.

"He basically admitted how I couldn't go anywhere because everyone thought I was crazy and he would make sure they would keep believing that even if he had to pay his buddies ten times higher to keep me sedated into their clinic. Maybe that time he would admit me as Cecilia. He liked the name he had said. Maybe this time he would also let them have fun with me too while strapping me to the hospital bed," she hissed feeling disgust.

"He grabbed me by the hand and I kicked him in the nuts," she quipped and Klaus smirked. And then Caroline's gaze turned into blue and black.

"I did not run when he fell down in pain. I waited. And he completely lost it," she said her voice echoing between her and Klaus.

Klaus had seen the pictures from her file. Kol had managed to get those too. So he knew what followed next. But those pictures were a living memory inside Caroline. She could still feel the pain that kept her awake at night.

"By the time the cops came half of the neighborhood was out and I was his half dead punching bag on the floor," she told Klaus. His posture a picture of rage. Hers a relaxed sight.

"The camera Matt had got me kept rolling even after they got me in the ambulance and Logan in the station. Of course nothing of all of that went to the papers or even the file in the police because then the authorities would have to actually admit how they have refused to help me all the times I had begged them to in the past. Official calls and statements they discarded," she sarcastically noted.

"I let them. It would not help for me to duel in the past anymore and the last thing I wanted was more publicity and to get into more trials. I was just so tired and I all I wanted to do was get out of that town and start a new life. And I did. I reinvented myself and turned a new page leaving everything behind," she sighed and then looked at Klaus. Her gaze intense.

"Maybe I was weak and maybe in the end I got all suicidal but… I survived!" she declared and Klaus smiled and his fingertip trailed the wet path her tear had left on her cheek. A sign of her strength.

"You did."

He then took her hand and pushed her fingers against his scar on his chest just under his heart.

* * *

…

_**Chicago**_

_**December 2014**_

_Caroline panted as the aftermaths of one of the best orgasms she had in her life washed over her trembling body. She rested her head over Klaus's chest and enjoyed the way he heaved after giving himself to her completely. In those moments he was only hers. He belonged to her and there was no world of guns and terror in the between. _

_Their legs were entangled and she let her fingers travel up the sweaty muscles of his chest and she then felt the smoothness of his body break into a gruesome line of stitched up skin. A scar just under his heart. An old one. A big one._

"_How did you get this one?" she asked him. His body was filled with scars. Scars he gained from gang fights and from bullets and knives. But none was so close to his heart and none looked like this one._

_Klaus tensed and pushed her hand away distancing himself from her. _

"_Maybe one day I'll tell you."_

* * *

"Some scars run deeper than skin deep," Klaus told her and Caroline gulped down. Her fingers trembled over his scar. He was opening up to her. The middle ground was shaking and dissolving into nothingness. Maybe the road led to a dead end but at least they now walked on the same line.

"Mikael was not my biological father but he was still the one I got and the only one that got to give me these scars," Klaus told her with snarl and Caroline's eyes filled with tears again. But this time those were not because of her pain. They were for his. And yet Klaus did not cry. He did not shed any tears. He only let out his memories as a reminder of how he gained his crown and his vengeance.

"I was five when he gave me this one with a shard of glass from a broken bottle" he revealed to Caroline as she pressed her fingers over the heated skin. She felt the scar underneath her fingertips. "For years I lived in terror. My first memory is not a good one and neither are those that followed. I know all about pain and abuse Caroline. All too well. I was six when I swore to one day kill him and I did," he proudly told her. Sick satisfaction and vindication danced in his eyes and so much hate that it made Caroline gasp. She knew that he was better than this but this was also a side of him. A side that lived and breathed inside him as effortlessly as his heart was beating.

"But you didn't kill the wounds they still bleed," she muttered sadly and Klaus let go of her hand and she pulled back. Her finger tingled feeling the sensation of the scar still against her skin.

"Sometimes…and then there are those other times where I hold the knife. And the blood that runs is not mine and the voices in my head seize," he revealed to her and she saw the madness that reflected in his eyes. It was poison and venom and it had latched into every part of him. And it had made him strong and it had killed him.

"You will get to hold the knife when the time comes but what you will do with it will be up to you sweetheart. Maybe your wounds will close one day," he murmured and Caroline looked at him sadly.

"Yours can too," she softly said and Klaus snorted.

"I don't want them too."

Caroline gaped and gave him an incredulous look and Klaus' lips curved into an unsettling grin.

"I don't want to forget. The more I remember the more powerful I get," he explained to her. And Caroline noticed the edge in his voice. He was not battling his demons. He was letting the demons battle inside him and reign over him. He was using those demons for their wings and their horns and hooves and their power. He was feeding them with his anger and blood. The more blood he was giving them the more they grew inside him. It was more than just survival for him Caroline realized. It was a homage to murder and power. She might have gambled with her life but Klaus has gambled his soul.

"Powerful enough to not let anyone hurt me or anyone I care for ever again," Klaus told her decisively and the pride in his voice shone covering the vulnerable infinitesimal trembling of his vocal chords.

Caroline let a bittersweet smile grace her features. She looked at Klaus and how the flares for the flames from the fireplace reflected on his dirty blond hair.

"I know. This is why I came to you remember?" she reminisced and saw the shadow that passed through his eyes.

His gaze scrutinized her for a few long moments and the madness she had just seen in his gaze shimmered down. He became more human again and then for the first time ever since she met him Klaus lowered his gaze at his hands refusing to look into her eyes.

"Would you have given me a chance if you didn't need my protection?" he wondered. His tone barely above a whisper and Caroline's breath hitched. And for a very brief moment she contemplated lying to him.

"You want the truth?" she questioned him feeling weak and Klaus raised his gaze to meet hers. This time he was not averting his eyes. There was a blend of uncertainty and hope in the depth of his intense stare and Caroline was mesmerized and terrified by it.

"Always."

"No."

Her honesty cut him deep and Caroline could see the exact moment when it happened. It was an unspoken truth between them. It was never uttered out loud in a moment of sincerity and understanding. Until now. They used to dance around this for so long and Caroline wished to have another answer to give him but this was the only one she had.

Klaus face fell and he got up. He turned his back on her and remained silent. Caroline sighed and got up. She hated this distance between them and even though she approached him and put her hand on his tense shoulder she didn't feel the distance shrinking. If anything it was getting multiplied and Klaus was not reacting to her touch at all. He was standing still as a statue. Cold and hard as just as unreachable.

"I sometimes feel that you are bad for me," she tried to make him understand. Her confession coming out in a soft whisper that made his body turn to stone. "You bring out the best and the worst in me. But truth is that I hate living in fear and you bring that out in me too. You always did," she confessed and Klaus turned around as if her touch and her words had burned him.

"You are afraid of me?" he incredulously asked her.

"Yes," she firmly admitted and Klaus jolted back as if he was electrocuted.

"I am afraid of you," Caroline insisted and Klaus looked at her horrified, "for everything you make me feel and for everything you can't give me," she breathed out and Klaus narrowed his eyes confused.

He opened his mouth to say something but Caroline rushed to him and placed her finger against his lips silencing him.

"I used to be this insecure girl and this made me take all these choices that screwed up my life. I can't go there again. I won't," she vowed with a pained expression and Klaus' features softened. He took hold of her hand and gently kissed the finger that still lingered against his lips.

"You know I'd never hurt you Caroline," he promised her but she shook her head. She detached her hand from his and took a step back.

"Physically no and I don't think that you ever would intentionally. That I know. But we also hurt people with more ways than attacking them," she said and Klaus nodded in understanding.

"We only hurt those that are close to us," he confirmed and Caroline looked at him exposing all of her insecurity and doubt and vulnerability to him.

"Are you close to me?" she asked him and even though she knew she sounded needy she didn't care. She saw how Klaus lips trembled. He knew that she expected from him the same honesty she had given him. No matter how much it would hurt.

"Can you be all mine? Will I ever be your first choice?" she pressed and Klaus looked at her unable to tell her what she wanted to hear. He could not even tell her what he wanted to say. It was impossible.

Caroline understood his struggle and smiled sadly.

"Being with you means…that there is no middle ground. Your world does not allow it. _You_ don't allow it. So it is either all in or all out and _yet_… this does not go both ways does it?" she voiced out her thoughts and then straightened her back and armed herself with determination.

"I want to come first. No second thoughts. No middle ground," she declared.

She took a step forward and cupped Klaus' face with her hands demanding his undivided attention.

"This is what I want," she professed. Her eyes blazing with fire. With need. With longing. But it was a clear gaze. Tainted by pain but not by lies. It was her truth. And she was asking nothing more than what she deserved and what she was ready to give. But only if he would let her. Because she would not settle for anything else. "You are dangerous and you want power. You just said it yourself. You don't want to forget, you don't want to forgive." She threw his words back at him and noticed how he flinched. The previous arrogance was not there now, "but I have seen more in you," he assured both of them, "It is not all about revenge. It is also about protection. You protect those closest to you. Those you care for," she told him with fervor.

Klaus remained silent for so long. Lost in her touch. In her words. And Caroline was not sure if he would say anything but then his fingers wrapped around her palms holding her hands against his face.

"I care for you," he whispered. His voice low and suggestive. And so very seductive. It burned through her like wildfire. Almost like love. Almost.

"How?"

Her question was bold and Klaus looked at her startled.

"How?"

Caroline drifted away and he let her.

"How do you care for me? In what way?" she pressed and he seemed stunned. As if she was talking to him in a foreign language he could not understand.

"You put your family first and you always want to win but _I _don't want to be a game. I want more. More than being a trophy for you to parade around. More than a challenge and certainly more than a conquest," she insisted. Her stance and her tone commanding respect.

She resolutely stared up at him and Klaus took in every detail of her face. His penetrating gaze focused solely on her reactions. On the way she was drawing breath. On the way she had her chin titled up. On the way her lips trembled but refused to utter anything in surrender. Her hair a golden halo around her face and her eyes sparkling with pride and defiance. But most of all with strength.

"I asked you for protection and in return you asked me to be with you," she reminded him, "it was my choice and I don't regret it. You did not force me to have sex with you but your protection came with a price. I constantly keep bringing it up and using it as a shield because I need the reminder," she tried to desperately make him understand, "it is so easy to lose myself in you but I want someone to care for me with no strings attached and not selfishly. And maybe I want too much and maybe it is me that is being selfish here but you always ask me what it is that I want. So this is what I want," she came clean.

"After everything I have lost I have managed to stand on my feet and yet when I felt fear again I turned once more to a man for protection. I am not proud for this but I have decided to put my survival first even above my pride," she said and even though her voice slightly trembled with shame she refused to look away from his eyes.

"But when all is said and done your forever is me becoming the mistress of the King and I do not deserve this. You know I don't," she urged him and then took in a sharp breath expecting from him a truthful answer.

"So can you tell me that there will be a day that you will be able to give me more than this? To give me yourself without holding back? Scars and wounds and all? Even healing? Can you tell me it is worth the wait? Should I even wait?" she asked shedding her armor down for the first time in years. This was her. Bare and honest. No pretenses. No middle ground. She wanted everything. She wanted him. But she did not want to let go and turn to a shade because of love. That kind of love was not the kind she wanted. And if this was the only thing he could give she would not take it. And she would not allow him to pretend that he was giving her what she wanted either.

Caroline faced him and raised her chin up. Her heart was pounding so fast and so hard.

"Above your Kingdom and your crown. Above everything you hate. Can you care for me more than that?"

Klaus lips compressed to a thin line. She was asking too much. More than he could give. Things he did not even know if he had to give.

He glanced up at her and he felt as helpless as he used to be a long time ago. When he had no power. No walls of violence to hide behind. His frustration flared and he felt trapped. He wanted to lie. To tell her whatever she wanted to hear. Anything that would keep her by his side and so he opened his mouth with every intention of telling her _yes_. Even if it would be a lie.

"I don't know."

He could not lie. Not to her. And it shook him to the core that his answer was not a 'no' either. But even that answer was not enough. It would never be enough. Not for her. And if he had to be honest. Not for him either.

Caroline nodded and exhaled painfully. Her face contorting to a mask of disappointment showing him how much she longed for another answer. Showing him that she had grown to care for him despite everything.

"I don't know if I can forever wait for you to find out. I don't deserve that," she repeated her conviction with a wary gaze and Klaus felt his cruelty surfacing again.

"Life is hardly ever fair love," he told her sharply and Caroline gave him a smile. A wistful knowing smile.

"No it is not," she agreed; her sweet voice tainted with regret as she turned around and walked away from him.

When she closed the door behind her Klaus closed his eyes knowing that she was right. She deserved more. More than what he could give her but he was still a selfish man and men like him hardly ever did the right thing. Men like him were the reason life was never fair.

In the end doing the right thing would mean losing her and he could not do that. It was beyond him. Because when all was said and done the question would not be if he would be able to give her what she wanted but if he would be able to let her go if he couldn't.

And he didn't think he ever would.

_..._

_And these scars wouldn't be so hidden  
If you would just look me in the eye  
I feel alone here and cold here_

* * *

_References: [1],[2] : Medusa by Carol Ann Duffy_

* * *

**Song: Plumb - Cut**


End file.
